By Matṧeliso Phulane
Lesotho is projected to lose M160 million in royalties in six months during an upcoming maintenance of Phase I water transfer and delivery tunnels at ‘Muela Hydropower Station, which is planned to take place from October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025.
However, the Lesotho Highland Development Authority (LHDA) promised that more water will be transferred to South Africa before then to avoid royalty rates being too low.
LHDA divisional manager for development and operations Reentseng Molapo this week said the organisation will be transferring 700 million cubic metres in the first nine months of this year.
“Normally we deliver 780 cubic metres of water a year; on average we deliver about 65 million cubic metres a month and that amount gives Lesotho about M100 million in royalties,” Molapo said.
He indicated that the maintenance and repair work is expected to last about four months in total.
Preparations which include emptying of the tunnels will occupy the first month, and final inspections and refilling the tunnels with water will take up the final month, making the total outage period to be six months, he pointed out.
Molapo said engagement with relevant stakeholders such as the Lesotho Electricity Company to make arrangement for alternative electricity supply are ongoing and they have engaged thoroughly with the government on preparation for that eventuality. This is what prompted a recent announcement by the minister of energy Nqosa Mahao.
“There has been ongoing coordination with the TCTA (Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority) to ensure that they are also ready to play their part on the delivery tunnel north.
“Furthermore, the LHDA will mitigate the risk of loss of royalties’ revenue by delivering more water before and after the outage. However, the same is not possible for electricity,” Molapo added.
The maintenance cost which is for water transfer cost and hydro power cost is estimated to be 200 to 300 million which is financed by both countries; South Africa and Lesotho.
Molapo made an assurance that Basotho are going to participate a lot during the maintenance, especially those in the six working areas of Pelaneng, Tṧehlanyane,’Muela, Hololo, Ngoajane and Caledon.
He said they already have a contractor – Corocode – of South Africa, adding that maintenance work includes manual labour such as cleaning the surface area, stripping the old paint before re-applying the coating.
The contractor has been employed one year ahead of time to recruit about 300 to 400 Basotho who will be working 24 hours a day in shifts.
“The contractor is going to start recruiting employees because the work will be done in the tunnels where it is not a normal working environment. People who will be working need to be trained to be working in a safe manner,” Molapo added.
During this time, LHDA stated that there will no transfer of water from Katse to ‘Muela (transfer tunnel 45 km) which will result in no generation of electricity at the ‘Muela Hydropower Station.
Also, there will be no delivery of water from Lesotho to South-Africa through the delivery tunnel 37 km (delivery tunnel South 15 km and delivery tunnel north 22 km).
This was confirmed by LHDA’S chief executive Tente Tente who announced that from September to November 2019, during an inspection of the transfer and delivery tunnels, it was established that the painting on all sections of the tunnels that are steel lined was wearing off and if left for too long, there was a risk pf the steel lining corroding.
Tente noted that specialists had advised that the tunnel could safely be operated for a period of around five years (October 2019 to October 2024). Safe operation of the system significantly beyond the five years could not be guaranteed.
He indicated that LHDA plans to use the opportunity created by the 2024 tunnels outage to undertake other routine maintenance on the ‘Muela Hydro Power Station and other related components.
This will include the replacement of the process’s controllers of the ‘Muela Hydro Power unit 1, the station houses three units that generate hydropower. The 10- year(s) inspection and refurbishment of the units 1, and 3 have recently completed.
The 10-year inspection and the refurbishment of units 2 and process’s controllers is planned for February to May 2024.
LHDA will undertake extensive maintenance and repair works in the tunnels.
“This will require a complete shutdown on the station to empty the tunnels of any water and make way for maintenance teams to enter the tunnels and carry out the repair work.
“It is a sensitive, and extensive job that is done with the highest degree of safety considerations and care, and thus requires through planning, execution and post maintenance inspection before water is released back in to the tunnels,” Tente stated.
As per the provisions of the LHWP Treaty, the LHDA is responsible for the transfer tunnel and delivery tunnel south, which are situated within the border of Lesotho, while TCTA is responsible for the Delivery Tunnel South, which starts from the Caledon River to the Arsh River Outfall.
