The City of Cape Town’s dune rehabilitation project on the Table View beachfront is going exceptionally well. To date, 94 000 plants have been rescued and planted on the new dunes; 162 515 m³ sand has been moved, and 23km of netting installed. Alderman Eddie Andrews, the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, visited the site on Wednesday to monitor the progress of this initiative to rehabilitate, revitalise and maintain the Table View beachfront, one of the city’s prime tourist attractions along the Atlantic coastline.
The work commenced in mid-July 2022 with the profiling of the dunes from Dolphin Beach in the south to Bokkomsbaai in the north.
The project is taking place along a stretch of 3km of coastline, and apart from rehabilitating the dune system, the City’s Coastal Management branch will also improve pedestrian access to the beach, implement sand management and upgrade various facilities, services and infrastructure.
‘We have moved the sand to reinstate the dunes, covering an area of eight hectares; then stabilised the sand with the installation of wind nets, followed by revegetation with suitable dune-specific plant species. The netting is working well to keep the nearby infrastructure free of windblown sand. I have also noted the exceptional self-colonisation of the vegetation over the back dune areas. In March alone, we have planted 20 000 plants on the dune, with another 16 000 to go by the end of June.
‘Some residents may be curious as to why we have started with the dune project along this stretch. It is because this is the most pragmatic and cost effective approach to managing windblown sand in the city. Fully functional dune systems create a quality coastal space: they help trap sand on the beachfront, and prevent it from being blown onto roads and adjacent infrastructure. Once complete, the vegetated dune cordon in Table View will provide us with a natural buffer against storm surges and the longer-term projected impacts of sea-level rise, and will mitigate the smothering of infrastructure by windblown sand. We can already see the impact, although this project is still in its early days,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
Progress since July 2022 to date, and further actions:
· 94 000 plants have been rescued and planted on the dunes
· 162 515 m³ of sand have been moved
· 23km of wind netting have been installed
· Sand accumulating at each location will be pushed back into the sea and the nets reinstalled as needed
· Planting will continue into 2024
· The vegetation will take several years to fully establish
· Derelict ablution facilities have been demolished and replaced with temporary ablution facilities
All-in-all, the implementation of the dune rehabilitation will take about 18 to 20 months, thus the work will be ongoing until June 2024.
By August 2023 the City will commence with the other upgrades to the Table View beachfront, inclusive of:
· a new walkway along the coast
· parking
· new ablution facilities
· the repair of stormwater services
The work should be complete by mid-2025. The Coastal Management Branch is also investigating the possibility of converting a portion of the old tourism office building into public ablutions. Should this be a feasible option, it could be undertaken as part of works scheduled to commence in August 2023.
‘At Table View Beach visitors have an iconic view of Table Mountain in the distance, it is a favourite kite-surfing spot in summer months, and extremely popular among locals and visitors from all walks of life. All of those visiting Table View Beach, be it locals or tourists, will enjoy the space much more once we are done with the upgrades. In the meantime, I want to thank the local community for their ongoing support,’ said Alderman Andrews.
The beach remains open to the public, but all are advised to avoid the areas where work is taking place, to keep dogs on a lead, and to only access the beach via designated access pathways.
