https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Mokolo and Crocodile River (West) Water Augmentation Project, South Africa

24th April 2015

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

Name and Location
Mokolo and Crocodile River (West) Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP), Limpopo, South Africa.

Client
The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), under an order by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

Project Description
MCWAP consists of several phases.

Phase 1 (MCWAP-1) involves the construction of additional infrastructure including a pump station with a capacity of 1.3 m3/s at the existing Mokolo dam, and a 45 km, 800-mm- to 1 100-mm-diameter pipeline to deliver an estimated 30-million cubic metres of bulk water a year from the Mokolo dam. The system will run parallel to and join the existing infrastructure that supplies water to the Lephalale local municipality, Eskom's Matimba power station, the Zeeland power plant and Exxarro's Grootegeluk mine. The new network is also expected to supply water to Eskom’s new Medupi power station and the proposed coal-to-liquid (CTL) plant by Sasol.

MCWAP-1 is expected to meet the growing water requirements of the Lephalale area, and also to supply more water until a transfer pipeline from the Crocodile river (West) is implemented.

Phase 2 (MCWAP-2) proposes to transfer water using an abstraction weir, a pump station and a 160 km pipeline network from Vlieëpoort, near Thabazimbi, on the Crocodile river (West) to the Steenbokpan and Lephalale areas. It will also include degritting channels with high and low lift pump stations. The pipeline network is envisaged to run parallel to the existing railway line. It also entails the erection of break pressure and operational reservoirs to deliver up to 197-million cubic metres of bulk water a year to the Steenbokpan area, tying in with MCWAP-1 infrastructure.

Both phases will require supplementary infrastructure such as access roads, an operations centre and additional measuring weirs in the Crocodile river, as well as monitoring and control systems for the entire water infrastructure.

Envisaged to form part of the project is the proposed debottlenecking of Exxaro’s existing pipeline, to increase the existing supply capacity from Mokolo dam. This will involve the construction of the first 9 km of the new gravity pipeline (for MCWAP-1), from Wolvenfontein balancing dams, to interconnect with the existing pipeline. The new pipeline will follow the same route as the existing gravity pipe, and the servitude will be widened to accommodate the new pipe.

The objective is to improve the hydraulic gradient at Rietspruitnek, where the existing pipe passes over a high point.

Value
The project is estimated at R13.4-billion.

Duration
The engineering services started in September 2009. Construction of MCWAP-1 is scheduled to start in July 2011 to enable water delivery by July 2013.

The current estimated completion date for MCWAP-2 is 2016.

Phase 3 and phase 4 of the project will be completed between 2017 and 2018.

Latest Developments
The first phase of the MCWAP will only be ready for operation on October 8, Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane has reported.

The Minister has noted that the delays in the project, which had initially been expected to start operating in September 2013, was caused by severe flooding in the project area in 2014 and slow pipe-laying progress, owing to the contractors and labour issues.

Asked whether the TCTA has managed to raise funds to build the pipeline, Mokonyane has noted that R2-billion has been approved until March 2017, adding that the social component (25%) will be paid for by the DWS.

The remainder of commercial funding will be provided by National Treasury, which has issued an implicit guarantee. Debt is payable over 20 years after commissioning.

Concerns have also been raised about the potential impact on the Hartbeespoort and Roodekopjes dams, as well as on farmers who have rights to extract water from the Crocodile river and the two dams, of the transfer of water out of the Crocodile river.

Mokonyane has highlighted that the Hartbeespoort dam has surplus water, which means that the transfer will not affect users from the dam; however, the operating level of the dam would fluctuate as per seasonal rains.

“The Roodekopjes dam, in this instance, will convey water released from the Hartbeespoort dam to Lephalale, while the current storage of the dam will be left for the current users,” she says.

She notes that the water needs and entitlements of users, including farmers, in the Crocodile River West catchment have been fully accounted for in assessing the availability of water for transfer towards Lephalale. This has been documented in the Crocodile River West Reconciliation Strategy.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
TCTA (cofinance and the implementation of MCWAP-1 and 2); Nemai Consulting (environmental-impact assessment (EIA)); Ninham Shand Consulting Engineers, PD Naidoo & Associates (PDNA) and Urban-Econ Developmental Economists (project coordination and management); Africon, Kwezi V3, Vela VKE and specialists (technical studies); Mokolo Crocodile Consultants (a joint venture (JV) comprising Aurecon, Goba, KV3, PDNA and VKE Consulting Engineers) (engineering services).

On Budget and on Time?
TCTA expected to receive the environmental authorisation for the project in December 2010. The process, however, took longer than expected to complete, thus causing a major shift in the implementation timeline.

Contact Details for Project Information
Aurecon project manager Fanie Vogel, tel +27 12 643 9000, fax +27 12 663 3257 or email Fanie.vogel@af.aurecongroup.com.
DWAF project leader Ockie van den Berg, tel +27 12 336 8613, fax +27 12 336 7399 or email vdbergo@dwaf.gov.za.
Nemai Consulting, Donavan Henning, tel +27 11 781 1730, fax +27 11 781 1731 or email donovanh@nemai.co.za; or Salomon Pienaar, email salomonp@nemai.co.za.
TCTA project manager David Keyser, tel +27 12 683 1200, fax +27 12 683 1300 or email dkeyser@tcta.co.za; or head of communications Thandi Mapukata, tel +27 12 683 1294 or email tmapukata@tcta.co.za.
Urban-Econ Developmental Economists, tel +27 12 342 8686, fax+27 12 342 8688 or email pta@urban-econ.com.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Showroom

Aqs image
AQS Liquid Transfer

AxFlow AQS Liquid Transfer (Pty) Ltd is an Importer and Distributor of Pumps in Southern Africa

VISIT SHOWROOM 
SBS Tanks
SBS Tanks

SBS® Tanks is a leading provider of innovative water security solutions with offices in Southern Africa, East and West Africa, the USA and an...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.083 0.138s - 159pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now