The Amadiba Crisis Committee has urged Sanral to reroute the new N2 Wild Coast toll road that will cut through their land and harm ecotourism potential. So far, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

It has been more than 20 years since a road-building consortium submitted an unsolicited bid to reduce the distance between Durban and East London, by building a shorter, straighter and flatter high-speed route between the two cities.

The new N2 Wild Coast toll road - now under construction via the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) at a cost of more than R20-billion - aims to shave 80km off the current 550km journey between the two cities by eliminating the current dog-leg route via the inland town of Kokstad.

Instead, a new section of double-lane highway would be built immediately south of Port Edward and travel much closer to the coastline, to link up with the existing N2 route near Mthatha.

This straighter coastal route would allow traffic to travel at 120km/h, further cutting travel time by avoiding the current speed restrictions along the more winding and mountainous inland route.

For transport companies and travellers rushing to get from point A to point B as fast as possible, the new route makes obvious sense.

Yet, the proposed N2 Wild Coast toll road proposal has been controversial from the start.

This is partly because the original plan depended exclusively on toll funding...