Mpeshe Selebalo

MASERU — The Water and Sewarage Authority (Wasa) on Thursday signed a M68 million contract with a South African construction firm, CVS Construction.

Wasa said the money will be used to rehabilitate and upgrade Ratjomose Waste Water Treatment Works.

The money will also be used to construct the waste water treatment works at the Lesotho Agricultural College north-east of Maseru.

The waste water project is expected to take 14 months to complete.

Wasa chief executive officer, Refiloe Tlali, said the Ratjomose treatment works was operating just below full capacity which necessitated the rehabilitation of the current sewer system.

“Other works in Phase Two include the construction of a new sewer system in the areas that currently do not have a sewer system,” she said.

The new system will serve villages in the north-eastern parts of Maseru such as Mabote, Khubetsoana as well as parts of Lepereng and Masowe areas.

Wasa director of engineering, Lira Mohosho, said about 100 000 people will have access to the sewer networks.

They will also have low-cost on-site sanitation facilities.

“We expect that new connections in Ratjomose catchment will benefit 28 000 people while the new sewer connections in the Agricultural College catchment areas in the north-east of Maseru will benefit 36 000 people,” Mohosho said.

He added that Wasa will also offer the ventilated improved pits or water closets to about 36 000 people.

The new system is expected to improve the quality of water from Caledon River and Maqalika Reservoir which are the main sources of water in Maseru district.

“New sewerage connections will reduce the risk of raw water contamination since there will be no surface run-off into the Maqalika reservoir and pollution of ground water resources,” Mohosho said.

“This will improve the health of the people.”

CVS Construction managing director, Alex Von Klopmann, said they expected to start the construction in two weeks’ time.

They have a staff complement of about 400 people.

“We are regarded as sewerage construction specialists and so we will construct a sewage system of the highest standard,” Von Klopmann said.

“We intend to train artisans and hire as many operators that we can find.”

The Maseru Wastewater Project is financed by the European Investment Bank, the government of Lesotho and the European Commission.

The European Commission is providing about M97.2 million while the government has contributed M41.8 million.