A review of EIA report quality in the North West province of South Africa

The revised EIA regulations implemented on 3 July 2006 focused attention on the question of EIA effectiveness in South Africa. EIR quality review is one of the quality control functions contributing to EIA effectiveness within any EIA system, therefore the EIR quality review package developed by Lee and Colley was adapted and used to review the quality of a sample of 28 EIRs in the North West province of South Africa. Overall, 86% of the reports achieved satisfactory grades, with the descriptive and presentational elements of the EIRs more satisfactorily addressed, and the analytical components such as impact significance, addressed to a less satisfactory degree. EIR quality appears to be on par with international standards, but there are areas of distinct weakness. Further research is required to optimise quality review, and to reveal whether the new regulations have succeeded in addressing these weaknesses and made positive contributions to EIR quality, as a component of EIA effectiveness in South Africa.