Key components of Lesotho Highlands Water Project to be awarded by mid-2017

Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) reports that the engineering design contracts for the two main water-transfer components of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase II will be awarded by mid-2017 and that construction should begin 18 months thereafter. The R23-billion binational project is being financed by the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, as mandated by the South African government, and will increase water supply from Lesotho to South Africa’s economic heartland of Gauteng. Phase II also includes a hydropower component, which is to be built in parallel to the transfer scheme and financed by Lesotho.