Practice report: Assessing the economic impacts of roads passing through ecologically sensitive areas: a case study in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

A recent environmental impact assessment of a proposed new toll road in Cape Town, South Africa raised some interesting questions, particularly with respect to the impacts of routing a road through an environmentally sensitive area. The paper discusses the challenges encountered in assessing the economic implications of this routing and how workable methodological solutions were arrived at. Our approach was to investigate the longer-term opportunity costs associated with the preferred routing. This was done through focusing on the strategic importance of the area without necessarily engaging in detailed quantification.

Keywords:

• impact of roads
• economic impact assessment
• environmental valuation
• environmental economics
• strategic prioritization