Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase 1 Roads Rehabilitation and Repair, Lesotho

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) involves the construction of a series of dams and tunnels to harness and manage the water resources of the Lesotho highlands. Under Phase I (A and B) impoundment dams were constructed at Katse and Mohale together with interconnecting tunnels in order to store and transfer water to the population centres of Gauteng in South Africa. Transferred water was used to generate electricity to provide for the power demands of Lesotho.

Phase II of the project involves the following:

• Polihali Dam - 165m high Concrete Faced Rock Fill Dam (CRFD) at the confluence of the Senqu and Khubelu Rivers in the District of Mochotlong. The Polihai dam will inundate an area of approximately 36 km2
• A 38km long transfer tunnel connecting the proposed Polihale Reservoir with Katse Reservoir.
• Associated access roads including 40km of paved road through mountainous terrain with three major bridges crossing the reservoir.

Key features of this project:

We were employed by the LHDA as technical advisors in the project preparation phase and undertook the following specific functions:

• Project Management

Technical Assistance for interim Project Management Unit (PMU) at the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA).

• Procurement Support and Implementation Strategy

Identification and planning of procurement for various professional service and construction contracts

Provision of the procurement team responsible for the procurement of a specialist Project Management Unit (PMU) for Phase II.  Preparation of the Terms of Reference and the scope of services for the tender documents. Tender Assessment and recommendation. Interviewing of key team members and conducting negotiations with the preferred tenderer.

• Environmental Specialist Services

Strategic environmental and Social Assessment.

Preparation and Management of all early stage environmental studies and for various environmental baseline studies (3 contracts).   Managing the Baseline Environmental Studies on behalf of the LHDA. Providing specialist advice to LHDA on various environmental issues. Leading Tender Evaluation Teams for various other LHDA tenders. Preparing Environmental Management Plans. Input into access road route selection assessment. 

• Civil Engineering Specialist Services.

Project definition for various civil engineering elements (tunnelling, dams, roads, electricity supply, construction camps, etc).

• Strategic Planning of Road Network

Project Definition and scoping, Master Planning, constraints studies and route selection of road network (access and feeder roads including major bridge structures crossing the reservoir) in the affected region