There are three "Listing Notices" which guide and identify which projects require an EIA. These notices identify what are called "trigger activities" - if your project includes any specific activity that is listed as a trigger activity, you will need environmental authorization before you proceed. 

Listing Notice 1 identifies trigger actives where the impacts are generally well understood. These activities only require a Basic Environmental Assessment 

Listing Notice 2 identifies trigger activities where the impacts could be considered broad and not well understood. These activities require a Full Scoping Report and Environmental Impact Assessment

Listing Notice 3 identifies trigger activities which are specific to a particular province or region. 

Copies of these listing activities are available for download below.

A Basic Assessment can take between 4 and 6 months to complete whilst a Full Scoping and EIA can take up to twelve months to complete

Step 1: An Initial Application to undertake a Basic Environmental Assessment gets submitted to the department - receipt of this application is acknowledged within 14 days and a departmental reference number is issued

Step 2: A Public participation process is mandatory. This includes putting up signboards, advertising the project in local press and circulating a background information document to all stakeholders and interested parties. Interested and affected parties can register to be involved or make comment on the project. 

Step 3: A Draft Basic Assessment Report is circulated to interested and affected parties as well as certain government departments, this could include Water Affairs, KZN Wildlife and local government. Stakeholders have 40 days to review the draft and submit any comments

Step 4: Upon approval of the draft, the final report is submitted to authorization. This can take up to 30 days  

Supporting Documents: All Environmental Impact assessments need to include certain supporting documents, these include (but not limited to) 

• EMP, an environmental management plan which outlines how the project will be implemented and managed, during construction, during day to day management and during decommissioning (if applicable) 
• Specialist reports, any specialist reports such as ecological assessments, or geotechnical reports which back up the EIA need to be included, these are often drawn up by specialist third party consultants. 
• Site plan and maps. 
• Declaration by the landowner, if you do not own the land where the EIA will take place, a special approval from the landowner will be required 

There is a mandatory application fee payable to the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (KZN) for EIA submissions as of 1 April 2014. These are R2000 for a Basic Assessment and R10 000 for a full scoping and EIA.

Our costs as consultants vary from project to project and depends on the nature of the project, how many specialist reports may be required and complexities of the EMP