ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE POWER LINES FROM THE KUDU GAS POWER STATION (UUBVLEI SITE) TO ORANJEMOND AND OBIB RESPECTIVELY Final Route Evaluation and Environmental Impact Report Volume 1 Prepared by: Enviro Dynamics (Pty) Ltd P O Box 20837 Windhoek Namibia Tel: 264 61 223336 Fax: 264 61 240309 E-mail: [email protected] June 2005 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT Page i The EIA Team and Acknowledgements The EIA Team The following specialists contributed to this study: Ms Stephanie van Zyl: Team Leader, Socio-economic issues, Public Participation, Enviro Dynamics John Pallett Ecology and Fauna excluding avi-fauna, EEAN Ms Coleen Mannheimer: Botany, individual consultant Mr Chris van Rooyen Ornithologist, Endangered Wildlife Trust Dr Dieter Noli Archaeology, individual consultant Acknowledgements The following people are thanked for their input to this study: Mr John Langford of NamPower for providing technical background, working with the team to communicate with affected parties and to find an optimum route, attending meetings, and handling the administration of the project; The team specialists who conducted their studies amidst a very tight schedule; Bob Burrel, Dawn Jones and Belinda Beukes for assisting with logistics, holding meetings and providing data; Jono Smith, the logistics manager of NamPower in Oranjemund, for assisting with logistics and escorting some of the specialists; and Dr Peter Tarr of SAIEA for his guidance and thorough review of the EIA process. EIA Transmission Lines from Kudu Gas Power Plant at Uubvlei Final Route Evaluation and EIR June 2005 Page i Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Background 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.1.1 The Kudu CCGT Power Station 1 1.1.2 Work done to date 2 1.1.3 The downstream component 2 1.2 Report layout 5 1.3 Terms of Reference 5 1.4 Approach to the Study 6 1.5 Assumptions and Limitations 6 2 Administrative, legal and policy requirements 7 2.1 Policy and legislation dealing with environmental conservation and management 7 2.2 Namibia’s commitment to international conventions 8 2.3 International Finance Corporation (IFC) / World Bank Guidelines 8 3 Description of the project 9 3.1 Project rationale 9 3.2 Purpose of the proposed activity 9 3.3 Details of the Kudu CCGT Power Plant Site 9 3.4 Power line details 11 3.4.1 Locality of alternative routes 11 3.4.2 Power line designs 16 3.4.3 Corridor widths 17 3.4.4 Construction activities 17 3.4.5 Maintenance activities 18 3.4.6 Natural material and human resources required 18 3.4.7 Waste materials 18 4 Project Alternatives 19 4.1 Introduction 19 4.2 Kudu Power Plant Location Alternatives 19 4.2.1 Regional location 19 4.2.2 Oranjemund sites 19 4.3 Summary of alternative projects 22 4.4 Overhead vs. underground cable 23 4.5 No-project alternative 24 EIA Transmission Lines from Kudu Gas Power Plant at Uubvlei Final Route Evaluation and EIR June 2005 Page ii Table of Contents 5 Stakeholder Consultation and Scoping 25 5.1 Consultation approach 25 5.2 Key issues and concerns 26 6 The receiving environment 29 6.1 Introduction 29 6.2 The socio-economic environment 29 6.2.1 Community and stakeholder concerns 29 6.2.2 Methodology and data sources 29 6.2.3 Description 30 6.2.4 Existing infrastructure 35 6.2.5 Implications and criteria for route planning 35 6.3 Climate 36 6.3.1 Stakeholder and community concerns 36 6.3.2 Data sources 36 6.3.3 Description 36 6.3.4 Implications and criteria for route planning 37 6.4 Topography 38 6.4.1 Community and stakeholder concerns 38 6.4.2 Data sources and methodology 38 6.4.3 Description 38 6.4.4 Implications and criteria for route planning 38 6.5 Geology and soils 39 6.5.1 Community and stakeholder concerns 39 6.5.2 Methodology and data sources 39 6.5.3 Description 39 6.6 Hydrology and the wetland system 40 6.6.1 Stakeholder and community concerns 40 6.6.2 Data sources 40 6.6.3 Description 40 6.6.4 Implications and criteria for route evaluation 41 6.7 Vegetation 42 6.7.1 Stakeholder and community concerns 42 6.7.2 Methodology and data sources 42 6.7.3 Description 42 6.7.4 Implications and criteria for route planning 48 6.8 Fauna 48 6.8.1 Community and stakeholder concerns 48 6.8.2 Methodology and data sources 48 6.8.3 Description 48 6.8.4 Implications and criteria for route evaluation 51 6.9 Birds 51 6.9.1 Stakeholder and community concerns 51 6.9.2 Description 51 EIA Transmission Lines from Kudu Gas Power Plant at Uubvlei Final Route Evaluation and EIR June 2005 Page iii Table of Contents 6.9.3 Implications and criteria for route planning 52 6.10 Archaeology 54 6.10.1 Data sources and methods 54 6.10.2 Description 54 6.10.3 Implications and criteria for route planning 54 7 Route Evaluation and Assessment 56 7.1 Methodology 56 7.2 List of potential impacts 56 7.3 Evaluation and assessment 58 7.3.1 Diamond reserve lock-up 59 7.3.2 Visual Impact 61 7.3.3 Bird impacts 64 7.3.4 Impacts on fauna 66 7.3.5 Impact on vegetation 67 7.3.6 Destruction of or damage to archaeological and paeleontological records 70 7.3.7 Further details of route sections 72 7.4 Conclusion 73\ 8 Conclusions and Recommendations 75 8.1 Introduction 75 8.2 Route evaluation and environmental assessment 75 8.3 Final Recommendations 76 9 References 77 List of Appendices (Volume 2) Appendix 1: Details of Scoping Appendix 2: Bird Impact Assessment Appendix 3: Archaeological Assessment Appendix 4: Botanical Assessment Appendix 5: Terrestrial Ecological Assessment EIA Transmission Lines from Kudu Gas Power Plant at Uubvlei Final Route Evaluation and EIR June 2005 Page iv Table of Contents List of Figures Figure 1-1: Map of Namibia ..................................................................................................... 1 Figure 1-2: Location of Uubvlei relative to Oranjemund and Site D ......................................... 3 Figure 3-1 Site layout at Uubvlei (Source: NamPower) ........................................................ 10 Figure 3-2: Preliminary Alternatives. ..................................................................................... 12 Figure 3-3: Alternative routes considered during the EIA ....................................................... 15 Figure 3-4: Strain tower ......................................................................................................... 16 Figure 3-5: Compact Cross Rope Suspension Tower ........................................................... 16 Figure 4-1: Site Alternatives for the CCGT Power Plant at Oranjemund (Source: NamPower) ............................................................................................................................. 19 Figure 4-2: Power line routes considered for the Site D scenario ......................................... 21 Figure 6-1: Land Use, Infrastructure, landscape and topography of the study area .............. 33 Figure 6-2: Future Land Use and Infrastructure in the Sperrgebiet. The proposed power line route shown has been approved by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism upon an EIA that was conducted in 1998. (Source: Sperrgebiet Land Use Plan)34 Figure 6-3: Crassula atropurpurea var. cultriformis, a protected endemic species found in Zone A ................................................................................................................. 43 Figure 6-4: Area before Swartbult, rich in C. atropurpurea var. cultriformis .......................... 43 Figure 6-5: Distribution of vegetation around Oranjemund .................................................... 44 Figure 6-6: Sandy hummocks dominated by Cladoraphis spinosa and Brownanthus arenosus .............................................................................................................. 45 Figure 6-7: Gravelly-sandy flat dominated by Brownanthus arenosus .................................. 45 Figure 6-8: Low diversity on plains below the Schakalberge ................................................ 46 Figure 6-9: Higher diversity spot in the dune zone (Zone D) with the tall Zygophyllum prismatocarpum in the background ..................................................................... 46 Figure 6-10: Grassy plains near Obib ................................................................................... 47 Figure 6-11: Haemanthus pubescens subsp. arenicola, a rare geophyte found blooming on the grassy plains west of Obib ............................................................................. 47 Figure 6-12: Important bird habitats and flight paths in the study area .................................. 53 Figure 6-13: Location of archaeological remains around Oranjemund .................................. 55 Figure 7-1: Location of proposed power line routes north of the Orange River in relation to potential diamond reserves in the Paeleo Channel of the Orange River (Blue and red dots show the location of preliminary exploration efforts) .............................. 60 Figure 7-2: The Obib Mountain area near Skorpion, with its attractive wilderness qualities. 63 Figure 7-3: Visibility of shield wires vs bundled conductors .................................................. 64 EIA Transmission Lines from Kudu Gas Power Plant at Uubvlei Final Route Evaluation and EIR June 2005 Page v Table of Contents List of Tables Table 3-1: Co-ordinates of the routes investigated during the EIA ....................................... 14 Table 4-1: Summary table of alternatives considered (Source: CSIR, 2004) ....................... 23 Table 5-1: Issues identified and how they have been addressed during this study