Water department to spend R100bn on infrastructure

The national department of water and sanitation plans to spend R100 billion over the next decade revamping ageing water infrastructure and building new dams and plants.

Departmental spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said some of the projects identified included raising the Clanwilliam Dam wall in the Western Cape at a cost of R2.5 billion. Ratau said the dam wall would be raised 13m, doubling its current capacity to enable the dam to provide additional water to irrigate a further 5,000ha of farm land in the area.

Ratau said the Nwamitwa and Tzaneen dams in Limpopo, the Hazelmere Dam in KwaZulu-Natal and the Polihali Dam in Lesotho, which is expected to provide water to Gauteng residents, would also be improved. Ratau said the department had already had some notable successes, including the completion of Nandoni Dam in 2004, which was commissioned in 2005.

The dam falls within the Luvuvhu River Government Water Scheme (LRGWS). The purpose of the LRGWS is to supply water for domestic use to residents in the area between Makhado and Punda Maria (Kruger National Park) in Limpopo.

The dam, according to Ratau, was envisaged to service about 800,000 people, with the potential of reaching 1.1 million people. It was also for socio-economic development and upliftment of the communities adjacent to the dam.

De Hoop Dam, also in Limpopo, became fully operational in 2014. It is the 13th-largest dam in the country and during the construction period more than 1,000 jobs were created.

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