Van Schalkwyk revealed his intention to declare the eastern part of Gauteng and western part of Mpumalanga as an air pollution hotspot in May 2007. The formal declaration, made in terms of the Air Quality Act, was published in the government gazette of 23 November 2007.
The priority area covers a total area of 31,106 km2 and the total population the area is approximately 3.6 million people.
The hotspot area extends from the eastern parts of Gauteng to Mpumalanga and includes major towns such as Witbank, Middelburg, Secunda, Standerton, Edenvale, Boksburg, Benoni and Balfour.
Several sources of air pollution are located in the area, including power stations, timber mills, metal smelters, petrochemical plants, coal mines, fertilizer plants and various other industrial operations.
Although South Africa's air quality is not regarded as being an overall problem, there are many localised areas that suffer extremely poor air quality.
Given this situation, the Air Quality Act provides for the legislative mechanism known as the priority area approach that was specifically devised to provide key strategic elements for air quality management namely focusing of limited resources, formalising intergovernmental cooperation and air shed management.
"The declaration of the second National Priority Area signals a milestone in the implementation of the Air Quality Act," said Mava Scott, spokesperson for the environment department. The Vaal Triangle Air - Shed Priority Area was the first National Priority Area declared by the minister on 21 April 2006.
"In declaring the Highveld Priority Area, the Minister is satisfied that a situation exists within the area which is causing or may cause, a significant negative impact on air quality and that the area requires specific air quality management action to rectify the situation," said Scott.
The department, together with the affected provincial and municipal departments, have been given two years to develop an air quality management plan for the area that must: be aimed at co-ordinating air quality management in the area; address issues related to air quality in the area; and provide for the implementation of the plan by a committee representing relevant role-players.
A multi-stakeholder reference group made up of business and industry associations, non-governmental organizations, labour and community groups is to be setup to take part in the development of the plan.
The area is contained within: 1 metropolitan municipality (Ekurhuleni) and 3 district municipalities (Sedibeng, Gert Sibande and Nkangala) and more specifically 9 local municipalities: Lesedi Local Municipality (Sedibeng); Govan Mbeki Local Municipality (Gert Sibande); Dipaleseng Local Municipality (Gert Sibande); Lekwa Local Municipality (Gert Sibande); Msukaligwa Local Municipality (Gert Sibande); Prixley ka Seme Local Municipality (Gert Sibande); Delmas Local Municipality (Nkangala); Emalahleni Local Municipality (Nkangala); and Steve Tshwete Local Municipality (Nkangala).
Source: environment.gov.za
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