Appendix O2 - Biophysical Report.pdf - Zitholele.co.za

February 2011 98 1261910.1.3 Alternative 3The third alternative traverses from Camden to Empangeni via the easternmost routes. Thealternative starts with route AP along a similar alignment to Alternative 2, but it is further to thenorth. Route PO traverses through the KZN tribal areas and form point O the options are similar toAlternative 2. Here again it was found that between OI-SOI and SIJ, that SIJ is the preferred routealignment. Therefore the route is AP-PO-SIJ with short sections of OI and IJ included, completingthe route. The impact as shown in the table below is 37,331 ha.Table 10-3: Soil Route Selection Alternative 3Route Ha Good Agricultural soil (Class I and II) Ha Agricultural Soil (Class III)AP 7,936.6 13,376.4IJ 952.5 3,139.1MP 0 0OI 76.6 1,116.2PO 676.9 3,077.0SIJ 0 2,219.0SOI 63.0 976.6Total 8,829.6 x 2 = 17,659.2 19,672.210.1.4 Preferred AlternativeIn the view of the figures presented above it is clear that Alternative 2 is the least preferred option.There is no significant difference between the remaining two alternatives. Alternative 1 has aslightly smaller impact footprint. When considering soils Alternative 1 is the preferred option as itcovers a lot smaller highly sensitive area.10.2 EcologyThe ecological sites along all the routes were ranked as per the methodology described inSection 7. The proposed corridors were overlaid with ecological data and the result is aquantitative area that will be impacted by the routes for each ecological ranking. As with the soilsabove features that are seen as sensitive or irreplaceable have been used to rank the routes.ZITHOLELE CONSULTING