The Western Cape government has launched a R78 million Holsloot weir river project which is set to benefit 150 farming households in the Rawsonville area.

The weir is a river protection intervention aimed at ensuring functioning ecosystems.

Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer has officially handed over the project to the Holsloot Water User Association to operate.

Speaking at the official opening, he said they were celebrating the completion of a successful project.

"It is an outcome of the Western Cape government's infrastructure-led growth strategy. This specific project aims to mitigate the impacts of climate change."

Meyer added the project would directly impact approximately 150 farming households and 4 000 ha of mainly wine grapes under irrigation.

Farmers and landowners will actively implement alien infestation clearing projects to restore the Holsloot River along the riparian zone.

The department's district manager for the Cape Winelands, Rudolph Röscher, said the weir provided an agricultural and environmental solution to the ecological damage caused by several severe floods over the years, alien invasive plants, and maintenance performed within the river as a result of pumps being washed away by floods.

"The Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Resource Use and Management Programme facilitated support to the Holsloot Water User's Association [HWUA] utilising the principles of area-wide planning.

"The outcome of this is the development of a River Maintenance Management Plan. Using the principles of payment for ecosystem services, the HWUA has included the cost for the alien clearing in their water tariff that the individual farmers successfully adopted along the Holsloot River," Röscher added.

Ettiene Weiderman of the HWUA said, unlike in the past, they now have a measured river.

He added: "We now know how much water goes where. We also have less movement of sediment in the river, which improves the flow of the water. The building of the weir is a great example of what a functioning government can do for its people."

Meyer said: "I am pleased that the project focuses on restoring ecological infrastructure as it supports increased productivity and socioecological resilience. The project also improves water security and job creation."