Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Pro- ject (LHWP) should supply South Africa with water by 2022, says Lesotho Highlands Devel-opment Authority (LHDA) divisional manager Tente Tente.
A 2009 feasiblity study revealed the water would be available in 2020.
Tente says while the agreement for the second phase was signed in 2011, it was only ratified in 2013, which finally allowed work on the project to kick off.
Tente says, the delivery process for LHWP Phase 2 already has a “cramped, quite hectic” programme, with seven tenders expected in April, seven in May and another seven in June.
The project, estimated to cost R17.5 billion, will include the construction of the Polihale dam, the extension of the Muela hydro- electric complex, the construction of a 38.2 km water transfer tunnel connecting the Polihale reservoir with the hydroelectric complex, access roads to the project sites, camps, power transmission lines and administration centres.
Tente says the LHDA will engage the market through a series of road shows in May, where it will stipulate the “rules of engagement”.
Phase 1 of the LHWP has “not been free of corruption”, he adds, highlighting that there will be strong anticorruption measures in place for the second phase of the scheme.
Tente says the authority learnt many lessons from Phase 1, and refers to a Sotho saying that a new shield is best made tracing the lines of an old one.
“I think this project will be beneficial to the region,” he adds.
The LHWP is a binational interbasin water transfer scheme, which originally aimed for the delivery of 70 m3/s of water to South Africa.
It was envisaged as a four-phase, 30-year scheme, with the treaty for the scheme signed in 1986, following its conception in the 1930s.
It is currently delivering 24 m3/s of water.