De Hoop dam opening postponed for a second time

STEELPOORT – The official opening of the De Hoop dam has been postponed for a second time due to the president Mr Jacob Zuma’s unavailability to attend.

“The event has been postponed due to another commitment the president needs to honour.

The new date will be communicated as soon as we have confirmed it,” said Ms Candice Williams, Limpopo Department of Water Affairs spokesman.

The official opening had been resceduled for Thursday. Previously the department told Steelburger/Lydenburg news that president Zuma had to attend a funeral and couldn’t commit to the event. The newspaper acquired an explanation from the department but none was received before going to print on Wednesday.

Apparently all the elite, ranging from the state president, Mr Zuma, premier of the province, Mr Stan Mathabatha and local MECs to the mayor of Greater Tubatse Municipality, Mr Nkosi Josias Mahlake and his entourage will attend this big event. Some local chiefs and members of the local community have also been invited.

Despite objections, relocation issues of the 38 Buffelskloof families and strikes, the project continued and the dam is ready for impounding (collecting water in the dam). The department said the dam would start providing water to consumers, “by the end of the year”.

The dam, measuring 347-million cubic metres, is to serve the growing mining sector in the area, and two- to three million people in the domestic sector in the district.

This project is aimed at developing the Olifants River that flows through Limpopo and Mpumalanga and was estimated to have cost R3,4 billion on completion according to Business Day Live. “The De Hoop Dam will be one of the largest concrete dams in South Africa. Several firsts were notched up during its construction.

“One of these was the first use of “high paste, high workability” roller compacted concrete (rollcrete), with 129,000m³ of rollcrete poured over 30 days in a single operation. The pour set a South African record.”