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The funding will be used to construct a dam and supplement scheme situated outside Franschhoek near Cape Town, and the long-term loans will be repaid by 2027 from revenue generated from the sale of water to the city.
TCTA, which manages the project, secured the money through finance agreements with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Development Bank of SA and Absa.
Thursday's signing of the financial agreements in Franschhoek represented a significant milestone for both the Berg Water Project and South Africa as a whole, TCTA said in a statement.
Funded by the private sector
"This long-term funding commitment to the project together with the zaAA+ long-term rating assigned by the international rating agency, Fitch, bears testimony to the fact that large scale bulk raw water infrastructure development, previously funded by government, can be funded off-budget by the private sector through organisations such as TCTA, without government guarantee," it said.
The scheme is the biggest water infrastructure project currently underway in South Africa, and the first bulk water resource development project directly linked to water-demand management.
Jobs and water for the W Cape
It is designed to relieve the impending shortage in domestic and agricultural water sources from the integrated Western Cape water system by 20%.
The main contract, worth R550m, is being carried out by a wholly South African joint venture, and will create at least 600 jobs by 2007 and a further 180 jobs through the Working for Water programme.
Highest in South Africa
The Berg River Dam will be the highest concrete-faced rock-fill dam in South Africa.
It will feature a surface area of 535ha, a gross storage capacity of 130.1m cubic metres, a net storage capacity of 129.36m cubic metres, a maximum dam height of 60m (70m including foundation), a dam wall length of 990m, and a rock-fill volume of 3.2m cubic metres.
TCTA is a specialised liability management organisation, focused on new bulk water supply development and financing.
