Lesotho Highlands Water Project - Phase II: Overview and Update

Lesotho Highlands Water Project

Phase II: Overview and Update

KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PROJECT

• Polihali Dam - This will be a concrete-faced rockfill dam. - The embankment will be 163.5 m high and 470 m wide (at its base). The crest is 921 m long and 9 m in width. - Over 13 million cubic metres of rock, which will be quarried locally within the dam basin and will be compacted to form the embankment. - The dam will create a reservoir on the

Senqu and Khubelu rivers with a surface area of 5 053 ha and a full supply storage capacity of 2 325 million cubic metres. - Polihali Dam infrastructure includes a spillway, a compensation outlet structure and a small hydropower station. - The saddle dam will be 45 m high and will have a crest length of 603 m and a crest width of 6.5 m. Its function is to raise a low point on the reservoir margin to prevent water from bypassing the Polihali Dam. - The current supply rate of water from

Lesotho to Gauteng will increase at the rate of 780 million cubic metres per annum incrementally to more than 1 270 million metres per annum, as a result of the water volume increase brought about by the construction of the Polihali Dam.

• Polihali Transfer Tunnel

- The Polihali Dam will be built downstream of the confluence of the Khubelu and Senqu rivers in the Mokhotlong district in the Eastern highlands of Lesotho. - A 38.2 km long and 5.2 m diameter water

transfer tunnel will link the Polihali reservoir to the Katse reservoir. - Just as the water from the Mohale reservoir flows through the interconnecting Mohale

Transfer Tunnel to the reservoir at Katse, so will water from the Polihali reservoir flow through the Polihali Transfer Tunnel on its way to Katse, increasing the supply of water to the Katse reservoir and the amount of water available for hydropower generation.

• Hydropower

- Feasibility studies are completed. It is decided that conventional hydropower is the best option. - Three potential sites have been identified: two on the Senqu River and a third site at Oxbow on the Malibamats’o River. - The plan is • 2021: begin the design of the preferred option • 2024: begin construction • 2027: commission at same time as water transfer component.

• Advance infrastructure

- This will largely be completed before the construction of the dam and tunnel begins: • roads • bridges • housing • offices • workshops • bulk power • telecommunications networks – support project implementation and benefit Lesotho in the long term.

EMPLOYMENT

• 1 123 people from villages within a 5 km radius of the advance infrastructure areas have been placed with different contractors for unskilled positions. • 1 764 skilled personnel are engaged on Phase II construction contracts, of whom over 80% are Lesotho nationals while the remainder are from South Africa and other countries. • At the peak of construction,

Phase II is expected to create between 2 000 and 3 000 unskilled job opportunities for

Lesotho nationals.

Polihali Western Access Road

HOW IS THE PROJECT PROGRESSING?

• Procurement

- Implementation of an online procurement system to address

Covid-19 challenges is complete. - 46 contracts have been awarded. - The most recently awarded contracts are additional geotechnical investigations for the Polihali Transfer Tunnel in

December 2020. - Two tenders for the Polihali Dam and Polihali Transfer Tunnel will be advertised during Q2 2021. - The tender for construction of the Senqu Bridge was advertised on 4 March 2021 and the construction tenders for the other two major bridges will be advertised in Q2 2021.

• Construction

- All construction continues under stringent Covid-19 health and safety protocols. - Heavy rains across the country in the last days of January 2021 caused the level of the Senqu River to rise, impacting the diversion tunnel construction site and causing a temporary interruption to construction. Rehabilitation works have been completed and permanent construction activities, which include blast and drill operations, have resumed in March 2021. - Excavation at the intake and the outlet portals of the two

Polihali diversion tunnels was completed in August 2020.

Out of the 1 810 m of required excavation, 840 m has been completed (46% completion). The overall construction of the diversion tunnels is approximately 80% complete. - Work on various bulk power contracts is progressing well. The 33 kV line, which will provide temporary power supply to the

Polihali village, was completed in June 2020 and is due to be energised in the next few weeks. - The Polihali and Katse civil works – potable water and sewer reticulation infrastructure to permanent and temporary residential areas – have been completed, while the water treatment facilities are nearly complete. This includes the installation of mechanical equipment. The installation of streetlights is ongoing; access roads and parking lots are in the last stages of construction. Upgrades on the potable water and sewerage systems at Katse are also at an advanced stage. - Construction of the main access roads is progressing but is behind schedule. Works on the Polihali Western Access Roads (PWAR West and East) have entailed earthworks, drainage, bridge foundations and the establishment of quarries and batch plants. - Earthworks and pipe culverts are complete on the Polihali

North East Access Road. A section of the road has been primed in preparation for double seal surfacing. Ancillary roadworks are ongoing. These include retaining walls, guard rails and road signs.

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SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMMES

These programmes will address potential environmental and social impacts associated with Phase II activities. They include: • Four baseline studies that were completed in 2013 and 2014: - socio-economic - instream flow requirements - biological and archaeological - public health. • Those baseline studies, together with extensive engagement from local communities and interested parties informed these programmes: - Environmental and social impact assessments, and the development and implementation of environmental and social management plans. - Resettlement assessments and the development and implementation of resettlement actions plans to include livelihood restoration programmes and compensation. - The development and implementation of public health action plans. • The resultant sustainable development programmes to be designed and implemented will be agreed upon with the affected communities.

Civil engineering works of the Polihali camp