Olifants River Water Resources Development Project Phase 2

Extensive augmentation of water supply in the Limpopo province is required for the rapidly developing mining activities in the Greater Tubatse and Mogalakwena municipal areas.  The supply of water will also be utilized for domestic use in these areas, as well as the Polokwane municipal area.

Ndodana Consulting Engineers (NCE), under the leadership of Mr Webster Ndodana (Managing Director), were appointed - in joint venture with Zutari, the Zutari Ndodana Joint Venture (ZNJV) - to carry out the civil and structural design work, as well as construction supervision for the Olifants River Water Resources Development Project Phase 2 (ORWRDP-2).

ORWRDP-2 is located in the Olifants River catchment area, incorporating the Steelpoort River catchment area and extends into the Mogalakwena and Sand River catchments. 

Sub-phases C, D, E and F cover a bulk distribution system from the De Hoop Dam that will ultimately link with the existing  Olifants-Sand Transfer Scheme at Olifantspoort.  The bulk infrastructure comprises pipelines ranging from 1800mm to 1100mm in dia, a 13MW Steelpoort pump station, a balancing reservoir and a break-pressure tank.   This segment of the project also makes use of fibre optic cables, linking all elements to a single remote control centre that monitors and controls developments.

Design work commenced in 2009 and construction in 2012.

Further phases will include a 70km, 1100 diameter pumping main from the Flag Boshielo Dam to the town of Mokopane, for which three pumpstations of 4MW each are required. Bulk water pipelines from the 13MW Steelpoort pumpstation will be installed to supply the communities and new mining developments of the Lepelle-Nkumpi, Fetakgomo and Greater Tubatse municipalities in Limpopo.

Upon completion, the project will link the De Hoop and Flag Boshielo dams and will carry bulk water to Steelpoort’s mines, surrounding communities and the Lebalelo Bulk Water Scheme.

NCE was responsible for, among others, the structural design of various structures such as culvert flow transitions, energy dissipating structures and valve chambers. Approximately twenty-five types of valve chambers were designed for the sub-phase 2C of the Project for pipes up to 1 600mm diameter. These structures were designed to be water-retaining and comprised of very dense and intricate reinforcement, as can be seen by the images below.