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Two major Eastern Cape infrastructure projects have received a boost from the package of interventions agreed on at the Presidential High Level Dialogue this week.
The parties to the accord, government, business and labour have agreed to speed up the engineering and planning work of the Mzimvubu Dam in order “to permit the commencement of construc-tion work on the dam by 2014.
In addition, the parties agreed to ex-pand road maintenance and new road building including a new road and bridges in the Eastern Cape Pondoland area.
Further, the accord commits the parties to “accelerate the conversion and building of the remaining 446 inappropriate schools over the next three years.
In terms of the accord, government, business, labour and communities will make specific commitments” and work together to fast-track the infrastructure programme.
A detailed feasibility study on the Mzimvubu project was started in Janu-ary this year, Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa saying that from previous preliminary investigations a site at Ntabelanga on the Tsitsa River, a tributary of the Mzimvubu, had been found to be the most promising for a dam.
The site had the potential space for a reservoir with a capacity of about 600-million cubic metres, capable of yielding 180-million cubic metres of water a year.
She said the dam was expected to cost in the region of R20 billion, including
ancillary infrastructure such as a hydro-power plant, bulk distribution infrastruc-ture and irrigation development.
When she made those comments earlier this year, Molewa said the study was scheduled to be completed in two-and-half years.
In terms of the statement following Wednesday’s meeting that time frame has been reduced significantly.
Delivering on the commitment to the N2 road through Pondoland may be more problematic as it is currently the subject of a High Court challenge, although it is hoped to resolve the matter through negotiation.
A positive Record of Decision has been issued for the project following an environmental impact assessment.
