‘’ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY - PROPOSED WIDENING OF THE LOWER UMGENI RIVER: AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT BASIC ASSESSMENT REPORT:
REF NUMBER: DM/0068/2012
EThekwini Municipality proposes to widen and canalise a section of the Umgeni River for approximately 1 km in order to reduce the flooding risk of the Umgeni Business Park in Durban North, KwaZulu-Natal. The particular river section stretches from just east of Connaught Bridge (North Coast Road, R102) to approximately 1 km upstream in a westward direction.
GIBB (Pty) Ltd (GIBB) has been appointed as the independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner to compile the necessary application for environmental authorisation on behalf of eThekwini Municipality and undertake the required Basic Assessment Process in terms of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 and associated EIA Regulations.
You are registered as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP) on our database for the Umgeni River Canalisation Project and as such we have previously (6 December 2012) provided you with a Background Information Document for the project. We would now like to inform you that a Draft Basic Assessment Report (BAR) and associated Draft Environmental Management Programme (EMP) has been compiled and is available for your review and comment. Previous comments received from I&APs were incorporated and considered during the assessment.
The Draft BAR provides information on the proposed project, the relevant study area, the public participation process and its findings, the potential impacts which may occur due to the proposed Project and the measures that were identified to effectively mitigate environmental impacts. The Draft EMP follows on from the BAR in as much as all the measures for mitigation of impacts that were identified during the BA are incorporated. The EMP covers the pre-construction planning and design, construction, operational and decommissioning phases of the Project.
Please note that the comment period closes on 12 February 2013.
Ms Katherine de Jong
Tel: +27 31 267 8560
Fax: +27 31 266 3310
Email: kdejong@gibb.co.za
Web: www.gibb.co.za
2nd Floor, IBM House, 54 Norfolk Terrace,
Westville, Durban 3630
PO Box 1365, Westville, Durban 3630