The Civil Engineering Contractor November 2018 | Page 28

INSIGHT
The pristine site of the Polihali
Dam makes the establishment of a
construction village and complete
infrastructure a top priority.
Implementation strategy
of LHWP Phase II
By Eamonn Ryan
In an environment where
many large infrastructure
projects have seemingly
been halted, and contractors
are scratching around for
any infrastructure work
they can fi nd, Phase II of
the Lesotho Highlands
Water Project looms as a
bright light.
26 | CEC November 2018
T
he award-winning, multibillion
rand, bi-national Lesotho
Highlands Water Project
(LHWP) Phase I was widely regarded
as an African success story. It pioneered
the way for peaceful cooperation and
mutually beneficial socio-economic
development across the continent.
In 1986, Lesotho and South Africa
signed a treaty to harness the water
resources of the Lesotho Highlands
to ultimately supply 70m 3 of water
a second to South Africa — and to
generate power for Lesotho. This
latter point has at times (especially in
water-deprived South Africa) been a
cause of friction, as water released
for power simply flows into the
Atlantic and is lost when down-river
dams are already spilling. However,
the LHWP stemmed from a double
coincidence of needs: Lesotho
needed power security as it was
importing all its power from South
Africa, while the latter needed water
security. Both countries needed
economic growth through ancillary
economic development projects,
explains Tente Tente, Phase II
divisional manager of the Lesotho
Highlands Development Authority
(LHDA). He was speaking at a
Collective Wisdom seminar hosted
by MDA Consultants on 29 August.
The LHWP is one of the largest
ongoing development projects in the
world. In 2006, the South African
Institution of Civil Engineering
(SAICE) named the LHWP as the
Most Outstanding Engineering
Achievement of the Century.
The LHWP is a multiphased project
that delivers water to Gauteng and
uses the water delivery system to
generate hydroelectricity for Lesotho.
Tente is responsible for supervising
the Project Management Unit (PMU),
which is responsible for writing up the
terms of reference of the project, as
well as managing the adjudication of
proposals and service providers. The
original bilateral agreement signed
between Lesotho and South Africa did
not cover Phase II or any subsequent
phases, each of which requires a new
bilateral agreement. The Phase II
Agreement was signed in 2011.
“The challenge in southern Africa
is less the amount of water than the
fact that water is not where it is most
required — and the same applies
in Lesotho where the flow of water
is in the wrong direction, flowing
westerly instead of the required trip
to Gauteng,” says Tente.
Phase I ‘delivered’
At the inception, it was estimated
that the entire project would take
four phases and 30 years. Tente
notes with irony that 30 years had
already passed before Phase II has
even commenced construction.
“Phase I was completed on budget,
on time, and to the right quality,”
www.civilsonline.co.za