Question NW554 to the Minister of Water and Sanitation
28 February 2025 - NW554
De Blocq Van Scheltinga, Mr AD to ask the Minister of Water and Sanitation
Whether the proposed project damming of the Limpopo and Sand rivers near Musina to supply water to the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone has been costed; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details; (2) whether (a) an environmental impact assessment has been sought and (b) a water use licence has been assessed and/or granted for the specified project; if not, why not, in each case; if so, what are the details in each case; (3) whether the neighbouring countries that share the Limpopo River as the border have been consulted on the project; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
- Several water resource development options are under investigation as potential solutions to avail water for Musina and surrounding areas. This includes dam sites on Sand River to store water transferred from other catchments, sites in potential water source catchments, and the relevant water conveyance infrastructures. These projects are at the desktop investigation phase. The project costs can only be determined at the feasibility study phase, which is planned to commence in the 2025/26 financial year.
- All the regulatory approvals for the project will be initiated after the various elements of the water resource development solution for the area are fully defined at the feasibility stage outlined in (1) above.
- Notification of co-basin states that share the Limpopo River are guided by the following:
- Article 4 of the SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses, amongst other issues, deals with specific procedural matters on the sharing of information and notifications concerning planned measures with possible adverse effects.
- Article 4 (b) requires that “before a State Party implements or permits the implementation of planned measures which may have a significant adverse effect upon other Watercourse States, it shall provide those States with timely notification thereof.”
Regarding the mooted water resource developments to augment water for the Musina area, all stakeholders will be consulted during the feasibility study. These stakeholders may include the other co-basin states, and the basin commissions. Once the various elements of the water resource development solution for the area are fully defined at feasibility study level, and if the outcomes show that the projects may have possible adverse impacts on neighboring States, the formal notification process will be initiated.
The affected countries in this instance are Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
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