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

February 2011 100 12619The second route, BK traverses close to Wakkerstroom. The high abundance of protected andsensitive species results in this area not being suitable for placement of a power line. Since thereis another alternative in route BC, BK is avoided. When the latter parts of the route is considered(GL/GH/SGH) there is no discernable difference when considering only the sensitive species.However in order to identify the most suitable route the amount of natural vegetation to bedisturbed was taken and route GH was the most preferred. Therefore the Alternative 1 routealignment is AB-BC-CD-DE-EF2-FG-GH-HI-IJ.10.2.2 Alternative 2For Alternative 2 the main issues are around routes AM, SIJ, SAM and SOI. With the exception ofAM all these sensitivities can be avoided by using alternate routes. AM however as withAlternative 1 is at the start of the power line and cannot be avoided. The sensitivities identifiedalong SIJ, SOI and SAM is all related to the occurrence of red data species, fauna in the case ofSIJ and SOI and vegetation in the case of SAM.As above there is no difference in the sensitive vegetation when comparing routesNL//LH/NO/SNO1 and SNO2. A preferred route was chosen by using the amount of naturalvegetation remaining as a criteria and the SNO2 route was chosen as the preferred route. Byavoiding these sensitivities the preferred route is AM-MN-SNO2-OI-IJ.10.2.3 Alternative 3The same argument was followed for Alternative 3 and once again SIJ and SOI were excluded aspotential routes. In addition it was found that PO has an impact and by using the MP loop thisimpact was avoided. Therefore the Alternative 3 alignment is AP-MP-MN-(NO/SNO1/SNO2)-OI-IJ.10.2.4 Preferred AlternativeIn light of the aforementioned data Alternative 2 is the least preferred option. Once againalternatives 1 and 3 have similar impacts, however when considering the comments received fromthe stakeholders and authorities, in particular the Mpumulanga Tourism and Parks Agency and theWWF-SA it becomes clear that Alternative 1 is the preferred route.10.3 Visual ImpactThe visual impact to static observers as well as dynamic observers is described for each of theAlternatives in the table below.ZITHOLELE CONSULTING