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Johannesburg - An alleged row within the department of water and sanitation is threatening water supply to Eskom’s already delayed Medupi Power Station, sister publication City Press reported on Sunday.
Two sources involved in the process claim a deputy director-general in the department, whose name is known to City Press, is refusing to give the go-ahead for the R11.3bn second phase of the Mokolo Crocodile Water Augmentation Project.
A source sympathetic to the deputy director-general said she was being targeted because of her anticorruption stance.
It is not clear if she has particular misgivings about the Mokolo Crocodile Water Augmentation Project, or what these might be.
But an insider in the department told City Press the deputy director-general was not on good terms with the contractor, the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), and was deliberately making life difficult for them.
The official referred all of City Press’ questions to the department itself.
Two sources within the department, with knowledge of the project, said her reluctance to work with the TCTA was endangering Medupi’s future water supply.
TCTA did not respond to emailed questions.
The long-delayed power station will rely entirely on this project for its water – Medupi’s annual demand will be 15.4 million cubic metres.
Phase 1 of the augmentation project will provide 30 million cubic metres a year, with Medupi receiving 10.9 million cubic metres of the first phase’s water and the rest going to coal mines and other developments in Lephalale. This phase, which has cost R1.5bn and is expected to be commissioned in March, provides water to industry from the Mokolo Dam.
This phase is now nearing completion, but Medupi needs Phase 2 – a water transfer scheme from the Crocodile River near Thabazimbi – to make up the shortfall.
The department of water and sanitation’s Sputnik Ratau said the project was waiting for guarantees from Treasury before it could proceed.
Ratau said this had happened last week.
The augmentation project is crucial to Medupi’s World Bank loan, which stipulates the power station must be fitted with flue gas desulphurisation, a mechanism to control emissions.
But this mechanism will triple Medupi’s water use and cannot be installed on all six of the plant’s units until additional water is available.
