Maseru | Wednesday
THE next phase in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), the construction of Mohale Dam, will be completed in June, a dam engineer said on Wednesday.
Area engineer Greg Davidson told the media that the dam wall would be finished by June, but that 3km of a 45km tunnel between Mohale and the nearby Katse Dam still had to be drilled.
”A deadline of October 4 has been set for the completion of the tunnel and we have no doubt that we will meet that date, Davidson said.
”When the tunnel is ready, the Senqunyane River (the river which feeds the dam) can start filling the dam.”
Water from Mohale Dam will flow into Katse Dam which feeds the Vaal River System, Gauteng’s water source.
A treaty, governing the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the LHWP, as well as the export of water to South Africa was signed on 24 October 1986.
In terms of the treaty the South African government pays Lesotho’s government royalties based on the calculated net benefit of the construction of the LHWP.
Construction on Mohale was started in March 1998 – shortly after the completion of Katse Dam in May 1997.
Katse Dam currently transfers more than 500-million cubic metres of water into the Vaal River. It is estimated that Mohale will take three years to fill up.
However, before construction of the dam could go ahead, the LHWP had to negotiate with 226 households from eight villages to be relocated.
”The project is compensating the people by providing them with upgraded houses in surrounding areas,” said Mohale field operations manager Richard Ramoletsi.
”They are being given a choice of two or three bedroomed houses, depending what they are giving up.”
Members of one of the affected communities, Limapong Village, said they were satisfied with what the LHWP had offered them.
”I am scared to move away, because I don’t not know what it will be like at the new place,” 80-year-old Ma-Tseliso Soaisoa said.
”But, I am impressed with the compensation we have been offered.”
Matahbo Soaisoa (40) made similar remarks.
”I moved here in 1980 and now I am a widow so I am scared to move, but I am happy with the new home they have offered me.”
One of the problems with the relocation of the villages had been the exhumation of corpses from graves around the villages.
”We have moved 106 out of 446 coffins in the Mohale Dam area,” Ramoletsi said.
”We give the communities a new coffin, a cow, sheep and groceries so that they can perform the burial ceremony from its start.”
Ramoletsie said some communities were opting to perform ”ceremonies by remote control,” where they would pray for their ancestors from a distance.
Numerous training programmes, including how to deal with investments, have been offered to the affected communities.
Where possible, workers from affected villages are recruited for the construction of the dam.
The project has provided work for 7 000 Basutho’s so far. – Sapa