Large Infrastructure projects

Examples of infrastructure assessments undertaken include:

VSHA and Isundu Substations and Transmission lines – Mr Scherzer was part of the core Impact Assessment team for these projects over an eight year period. He was responsible for preparing the specialist terms of reference, appointing and overseeing the specialist input, liaising with Interested & Affected Parties and preparing the Environmental Impact Assessments.

These projects involved understanding the technical aspects of electricity transmission, as well as guiding and reviewing the input of over 20 different specialists, dealing with wetlands, birds, tourism, economics, geotechnical earthworks and blasting, air-quality as well as visual impact assessments, to name a few.

Tugela Water Project & Olifants River Water Resource Development – Both these projects involved undertaking the pre-feasibility planning and Impact Assessment of large dam alternatives in order to increase water storage within a catchment.  These involved working with hydrologists, water quality specialist, aquatic ecologists as well as vegetation and social scientists, among others. For the Olifants River Water Resource Development Project, Mr Scherzer was part of the core Impact Assessment team, responsible for coordinating all specialist input and preparing the preparing the Environmental Impact Assessment report and Environmental Management Plan.

Various Water, Sanitation and Waste-related projects – Mr Scherzer has undertaken several impact assessments on projects involving rural water supply infrastructure and domestic sewage treatment plants, as well as the construction of a water-borne sewage system in a semi-urban informal settlement situated within a sensitive wetland area.

Mr Scherzer also undertook an assessment for a new abattoir in a remote rural area to assist with the control of Foot and Mouth Disease. This needed to include a complex waste treatments works to handle all the waste products without polluting the ground and surface water resources which were relied upon for domestic water supply. These project included both the feasibility and assessment of alternative options as well as monitoring the environmental impacts during construction.