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dam-l Katse Dam story (fwd)
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From owner-irn-safrica@igc.org Wed Nov 19 14:56:24 1997
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Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 11:20:09 -0800 (PST)
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
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Sender: owner-irn-safrica@igc.org
Subject: Katse Dam story
To: irn-safrica@igc.apc.org
X-Sender: lori@pop.igc.apc.org
The following seems to have been inspired by LHDA-offered trips to see the
wonders of Katse Dam. Not too good a story, but not without its merits.
>>Organization: Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
>>Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 7:05:27 PST
>>
>>
>> (FEATURE) by Glenn McKenzie - pictures
>> KATSE DAM, Lesotho, Nov 12 (AFP) - Wedged between the ragged
>>Maluti mountains, this massive concrete dam embodies the dreams and
>>fears of some of Africa's poorest, most secluded people.
>> Eleven years after South Africa's former apartheid regime
>>envisioned the massive curved structure in a deal with the
>>then-military rulers of tiny Lesotho, the final touches have been
>>put on the 185-metre (600 foot) tall concave Katse Dam.
>> The dam forms the centrepiece of the Lesotho Highlands Water
>>Project, an elaborate system of dams and underground tunnels
>>designed to carry Lesotho's most precious resource -- water -- to
>>South Africa's thirsty industrial heartland.
>> The project, which will be officially launched in January, is
>>already being called the world's largest system involving the
>>transfer of water from one drainage basin (an area where water flows
>>to a single ocean or sea) to another.
>> And developers have further, as-yet unapproved plans to triple
>>the system's output in coming decades.
>> Lesotho, a mountainous nation of cattle-herders and small
>>farmers that is completely surrounded by South Africa, has few more
>>precious resources than its water.
>> The country of two million people depends almost entirely on its
>>sole neighbor South Africa for economic income, with the bulk of its
>>job-seekers ending up in South African mines.
>> But the mining industry has undergone tough times in recent
>>years, and many citizens of Lesotho, who call themselves Basuthos,
>>see the highlands water project as a God-sent source of income and
>>jobs.
>> "We created 12,000 man-year jobs in 1996 and we will create more
>>in further phases of the project go through," said the project's
>>chief physical planner Ben Mateka.
>> By January 22 next year, when officials will hold the official
>>opening ceremonies, 26 cubic metres of water will flow to South
>>Africa every second via a network of underground tunnels.
>> Aside from the jobs, Lesotho will earn 55 million dollars a year
>>in royalties, and the project will create enough electricity to meet
>>the small country's needs by the middle of next year.
>> Dam organisers have built roads, schools and clinics for many
>>local villages and have plans to provide electricity and piped water
>>to many others.
>> But the dams and tunnels are not without controversy.
>> At least five Basotho dam workers were killed and several others
>>injured in fighting with police last September. The workers were
>>protesting against alleged racist hiring policies of the South
>>African contractors.
>> And project planners concede that social problems, including
>>sexually-transmitted diseases, have invaded tiny, remote grass hut
>>villages that were once reachable only by donkey, but are now
>>connected with the outside world via new roads.
>> Each of the rural bases for project workers have attracted a
>>legion of "camp followers" who sell sex to the labourers and the
>>local population, according to health workers, planners said.
>> "AIDS is a new problem. We are distributing condoms," said the
>>project's assistant general manager of field operations, Mahlape
>>Mothepu.
>> Meanwhile about 1,000 people have been either forced, or
>>convinced to relocate from homes that have either disappeared
>>beneath the new reservoirs, or are too close to the water's edge.
>> Most of the resettled residents who have lost agricultural land
>>have been given maize or beans to restart elsewhere. But organisers
>>have recently responded to protests by beginning to offer cash to
>>those who would rather spend their compensation money on other
>>projects.
>> Planners are keen to see the project continue smoothly, to
>>ensure that Lesotho and South Africa will give the go-ahead to
>>further stages of the project, involving several more dams in coming
>>decades.
>> Early this week, the water project gave journalists a helicopter
>>and motor-boat tour of the Katse area, where they are encouraging
>>local residents to start up tourism facilities on the newly-created
>>lakes, which are already teeming with fish.
>> But some of the country's renowned attractions, its canyons, are
>>now underwater, and other natural side-effects of the project are
>>not known -- the project's environmental assessment report has not
>>been released.
>>-=-=-
>>
>
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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