The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport (KZNDOT) proposes to continue with Phase 2 of the upgrading of the Sani Pass Road (P318), which transects the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site (UDP WHS) near Himeville, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). This project originally consisted of three phases, of which Phase 1 (Ref: EIA 7377) has been granted environmental authorisation on 02 October 2006 and construction is in progress. Phases 2 and 3 have been combined into one phase, now referred to as Phase 2, which extends from km 14 at the old Good Hope Trading Post, which is also the boundary of the WHS, to km 33, the summit of the Sani Pass at the Lesotho Border post, a total distance of 19 kilometres.

The KZNDOT, as the project proponent, has appointed Arcus GIBB (Pty) Ltd (GIBB) as the Independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to undertake the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed upgrading of the Sani Pass Road (P318): Phase 2 to obtain environmental authorisation from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) for the proposed project.

This Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Report (Draft EIAR) has been compiled based on the impact assessment undertaken as part of the Scoping and EIA Process for the proposed Sani Pass Road Upgrade. The Scoping and EIA Process was undertaken in compliance and accordance with the NEMA and associated EIA Regulations of July 2006 (Government Notice No. R385 to 387).

This Draft EIAR aims to provide the DEA with adequate information on the project and assessment of the potential impacts. The DEA will use the information compiled in this EIAR to understand the potential positive and negative impacts and will then weigh these up to decided if the balance is in favour of the project going ahead, and if it is to go ahead, what measures need to be put in place to ensure that the potential negative impacts are mitigated.
This executive summary provides details of the EIA process undertaken in sufficient detail to provide the reader with a general understanding of the project, the assessment undertaken and the findings derived there from, without having to review the full detailed study.