First Northern Aqueduct contract goes out to tender

The first contract for the Northern Aqueduct, crucial for unlocking development and staving off water shortages in the north of the city, has gone out to tender. Project manager Martin Bright said the first contract, from Phoenix Reservoir 2 to the Waterloo Reservoir near Verulam, included a link to the reservoir in Umhlanga Rocks Drive. Bright said it was hoped that the contract would be awarded at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this financial year, around January. “A tender to construct the new Blackburn Reservoir is also going through the tender evaluation process. This reservoir will play a crucial part in supplying water to Cornubia,” he said.

The second contract within the Northern Aqueduct project, between Duffs Road and the Phoenix 2 Reservoir, was undergoing an environmental impact assessment. “This is a very important link as it will boost water supply for the Cornubia development via the pipeline to be constructed under the first contract of the Northern Aqueduct,” he said. The Northern Aqueduct project was designed and being monitored by Knight Piesold and Naidu Consulting in a joint venture. Bright said construction of the Western Aqueduct, which would feed water into the Northern Aqueduct, was gathering momentum. He said the first contract, between Inchanga Station and Alverston Nek, was awarded to Cycad Pipelines in April, and clearing of the pipe corridor and excavation of trenches had begun.

“The second contract, which continues from Alverston Nek to Ashley Drive in Hillcrest, was awarded to WK SA Construction this month,” Bright said. The release of extra funds had enabled the eThekwini water and sanitation department to combine contracts for a 25km stretch between Ashley Drive and the NR5 Reservoir at Ntuzuma into one. “As a result, a 39km stretch of pipeline between Inchanga Station and Ntuzuma, which constitutes the main spine of the Western Aqueduct, will be under construction by next year. “This tender as well as one for a 20 megalitre break pressure tank at Ashley Drive is expected to be awarded towards the end of the year.”

Neil Macleod, head of the city’s water and sanitation department, said that with the new Spring Grove Dam near Mooi River coming on stream and abnormally high rainfall ensuring that dams were full, the balance between supply and demand had been restored for the time being. Macleod said massive development in the northern part of the city required not only an adequate supply of water, but a reliable one, which could not be guaranteed at this stage. “We may have enough water to meet the current demand, but we don’t have the infrastructure to deliver it to where it is needed. We don’t have the network capacity,” he said. This had led to the municipality’s holding back on future development plans. “The existing water network to the north of Durban is stretched to the limit. Water outages in Ntuzuma and parts of Inanda were happening almost daily.”

As a result, the city hadgiven permission for his department to add 27 tankers to its fleet to increase it to 70, Macleod said. Last month the eThekwini Municipality released a further R580 million over the next three years to accelerate the city’s water infrastructure projects.