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PROJECT

SANI PASS UPGRADE:

PHASE 2

Kniphofia linearifolia (Common Marsh
Poker) and Gunnera perpensa (Wild
Rhubarb) flowering in a broad wetland
area of the pass

Project Team Sani Pass, a mountain pass located on the P318 road
Client: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport
Landscape Architects and Environmental between Himeville, KZN and Mokhotlong, Lesotho,
Planners: Bapela Cave Klapwijk
Consulting Engineers: Royal HaskoningDHV, fulfils an important trade, service and tourism
in Joint Venture with Semenya Furumele
Consulting Engineers and Ndizani Civil Works function. Its recently completed upgrade comprised
Environmental Consultants: GIBB the first section of Phase 2. Section 1 is from the Good
Environmental
Botanical Specialist: Elsa Pooley Hope Trading Store site to the South African border
Co-Ordinating Main Contractor: Leomat
Construction control post, and Section 2, from the SA border post
Landscape Contractor and Rehabilitation to the Lesotho border post, is yet to be upgraded.
Specialist: Nkosi Nursery Howick

he Environmental Impact Report for • rehabilitation measures for disturbed Conservation Area. For this reason, it
the road upgrade stipulated that a areas and planting requirements; required environmentally sensitive design
Tlandscape architect be appointed • monthly site visits. and construction treatment. Many tourists
to manage the visual impact of Phase 2 are attracted to the area, specifically the
and the client requested that as Bapela BCK were appointed under the project pass, for its natural beauty such as birdlife,
Cave Klapwijk (BCK) had provided the engineers, Royal HaskoningDHV (PTY) wildflowers, landscape, waterfalls and
specialist input regarding the visual impact Ltd, and at the start of construction, the the challenge to summit the pass by the
on the road, they should be appointed to two companies investigated options for 4x4 fraternity. The pass provides work
undertake the following: the treatment of structures such as barrier opportunities for local tour guides who
• determine the finishes of the proposed walls, bridges, retaining walls and slopes. ferry tourists up and down.
road, the aesthetic issues relating to the
project and the coloration of all materials The road is within the uKhahlamba The purpose of the construction was to
to be used in the construction of the road; Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site regrade and resurface the gravel road to
• design amendments to ensure visual near Himeville, KZN, forming part of the a hard surface, all-weather road along the
compliance; Moloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier and existing route alignment, with only minor

4 Landscape SA • Issue 116 2022