(Maseru, 10 July 2020)
The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority wishes to inform its valued stakeholders and the general public, of its employee testing positive to Covid-19. The employee has for the past three (3) weeks been working remotely, in line with the Authority’s internal guideline for employees who are feeling unwell. As it stands, we are following the necessary protocols for contact tracing, as guided by the Ministry of Health.
The timing of the case has coincided with our planned routine fumigation of our offices. A fumigating company has been mobilised to carry out disinfection of our offices, from mid-day today 10th July 2020 as a precaution to avoid further infections. The LHDA Tower building offices will be ready for re-entry by Monday 13th July 2020 while the operations at Field Operation Branches (FOBs) will continue as normal and fumigation will take place next week.
The Authority wishes to assure the public that, this incidence has in no way affected LHDA’s delivery on services relating to; water transfer, hydropower generation and compensation disbursement.
Furthermore, seasonal disbursement of annual compensation and grain distribution will proceed as planned, as Project sites of Katse, Mohale, ‘Muela and Polihali are in full operation.
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About
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is a multi-phased, multi-billion Maloti/Rand project between the governments of the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa. It comprises water transfer and hydropower generation components with associated ancillary developments.
The water transfer component entails the construction of dams and tunnels in Lesotho, enhancing the use of water from the Senqu (Orange) River and its tributaries by storing, regulating, diverting and controlling the flow to effect the delivery of specified quantities of water to South Africa, and utilizing the delivery system to generate hydro-electric power in Lesotho.
The major works of Phase I included the construction of the Katse Dam, the transfer and delivery tunnels, ‘Muela Hydropower Plant and the Mohale Dam.
The Phase II water transfer component comprises a dam at Polihali and a gravity tunnel that will connect the reservoir at Polihali with the Katse reservoir. The further feasibility studies for the hydropower component of Phase II have concluded that conventional hydropower is the more feasible option to meet Lesotho’s energy needs.
The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) is the implementing and management authority of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, on behalf of the government of Lesotho.
For additional information, please contact:
The Public Relations Manager on +266 22246000 or phakoem@lhda.org.ls or lhwp@lhda.org.ls or visit www.lhda.org.ls
