INLSA

Work on the Western Aqueduct system has been halted by a KZN judge who found that the tender for the contracts were unlawful. There are fears that the pipes for the aqueduct, seen at this site near Pinetown, could be damaged if left above ground for too long and that ratepayers could pay more than the original R864 million cost of laying the pipes. Picture: Sbonelo Ngcobo

The eThekwini Municipality’s “unlawful” awarding of the R864-million Western Aqueduct pipeline is threatening plans to provide sufficient water supplies to develop the Dube Trade Port and the city’s ambitious Cornubia mixed use development.

On Wednesday, the municipality announced plans to build a 55km network of pipelines that will pump water along the city’s north-east corridor in the hope that it will kick-start the expansion of the Dube Trade Port and the Cornubia development – where an estimated 30 000 high-end, middle-income and low-cost homes are to be built.

But there are growing fears that the R140m Northern Aqueduct Augmentation project could be scuppered by the delay in laying down the Western Aqueduct which was recently halted by KwaZulu-Natal High Court judge, Dhaya Pillay.

In her judgment, Pillay found that the actions of city officials in awarding the Western Aqueduct contract amount-ed to “gross negligence, sheer incompetence or lack of capacity”.

Critical

The Northern Aqueduct – which is said to be critical for the expansion of the Dube Trade Port – is expected to be built in three phases, starting from September and will eventually link into the Western Aqueduct.

Without the 150 million litres of additional water per day the two systems will pump together it is feared that development at the Dube Trade Port could be delayed.

“If that doesn’t come off there (the Western Aqueduct) there will be impacts on projects (at Dube Trade Port and Cornubia), but we are not there yet,” said Neil Macleod, head of eThekwini Water and Sanitation.

In October, Pillay ordered that work along the Western Aqueduct be stopped after finding that the contract awarded to Esorfranki and Cycad Pipelines was unlawful.

This was after two losing bidders, Sanyati Civil Engineering and Construction and Group Five, took the matter to court.

Bernie Krone, Esorfranki’s chief executive, said that the city could end up paying more than the original R864m cost of laying down the pipes.

“Ratepayers are going to foot an extra bill because this thing has been stopped. The work is not being done and there is a potential that some of the pipes that have not been put in the ground will be damaged. All in all, it is a sorry state of affairs,” he said.

Spokesman for the Thekwini Municipality, Thabo Mofokeng, said officials anticipated that the projects could be delayed by more than a year.

He said that the municipality had already spent R25m on the Western Aqueduct con-tract.

Asked if the new tender might cost more than the original R864m, he said: “There will be an increase in the bill, but the exact numbers have not been worked out yet.”

Mofokeng said a report on the canned Western Aqueduct contract was being prepared for the council’s executive committee. The tender for the new contract will be advertised after a decision by the executive committee.

According to a statement released by eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) department, the tender for the construction of phase one of the Northern Aqueduct will be advertised in July after all requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment are completed.

“Without additional infrastructure, the extra load placed on the existing system by these projects could see the already over-extended infrastructure reach breaking point,” Macleod said.

Risk

“Although the whole of Durban is at risk of water shortages in the near future, the northern parts of eThekwini are already being negatively impacted by a lack of capacity when it comes to the supply of potable water. The bulk supply has reached capacity and urgent measures need to be taken,” he said.

Macleod said that although the first phase of the project would not increase much water capacity to the area, it would provide some relief for building work to begin on the multi billion rand Cornubia mixed use development and the Dube Trade Port.

“There is not much development happening (at Dube Trade Port) because the economy is flat, but once things pick up we need to have the infrastructure and the capacity in place to meet the demand. That is what we are doing now,” Macleod said.

He said the delay caused by the court ruling stopping work on the Western Aqueduct project forced the EWS to amend the Northern Aqueduct project.

“At this juncture, we have to deal with the situation as best we can. We also need to accept that this cannot be a long-term solution.

“Ultimately, the Northern Aqueduct will have to rely on either the Western Aqueduct or another major source to supply additional bulk water to the northern regions of eThekwini,” Macleod said.

Project manager Andrew Copley said construction of the first phase of the Northern Aqueduct was being treated as a “top priority”.

“Because we are unable to inject additional water into the system in the short term, we had to look at how we could optimise the use of existing resources. We plan to ring-feed specific areas by tapping into and rerouting any residual capacity in other parts of the system. New infrastructure will work in conjunction with older infrastructure to strengthen the existing system and optimise the availability of water in areas where demand is greatest,” he said.

Copley said the first phase of the Northern Aqueduct was expected to take 24 months to complete, while the second phase was likely to take 36 months.