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Khato Civils/Zambezi JV has vast experience in designing and constructing water projects – the recent one having been completed in Gaborone, Botswana.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A South African joint venture company is about to move into construction phase of a water project worth US$313.5 million (R5.7 billion) in Malawi.

The Khato Civils (Pty) Ltd / South Zambezi (Pty) Ltd JV was awarded the Lake Malawi Water supply Project contract in 2016. Since then, the detail designs, feasibility, environmental and social impact assessment studies for the project have been completed and approved by relevant authorities.

The JV will construct a 125km pipeline to draw water from Lake Malawi to feed the ever-growing capital city, Lilongwe, and surrounding areas.

Lilongwe is growing at a rate of 5.5 percent per year, the fastest in the country, and the region. Its population is estimated at 1.4 million and is expected to double by 2025.

Along with this rapid growth, the city is experiencing a rise of informal settlements and a strain on the city’s services, including water supply and sanitation.

Lilongwe faces unique water security challenges, which are expected to worsen over the coming years. The Kamuzu dam’s system on Lilongwe River – the only source of water for the city – has low yields (average combined yield is estimated at 109,000 m3/day), with a low reliability of about 87 percent and as a result, the Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) rations water.

The river flow is also highly variable and very vulnerable during dry seasons. 

Khato Civils CEO Mongezi Mnyani said that the JV presented its bid, which was an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing (EPCF) proposal, to the Malawian government against seven other bids from international companies.

“Our bid was without the slightest doubt the best. Those that have any doubt in this regard are at liberty to contact LWB to inspect the quality of our bid compared to the other bidders,” Mnyani said.

Khato Civils/Zambezi JV have vast experience in designing and constructing water projects – the recent one having been completed in Gaborone, Botswana.

Mnyani said that the JV set up an office at Golden Peacok in Lilongwe in 2017.  “We have deployed two state-of-the-art trenchers that arrived in Lilongwe on the 24th of May 2017. We set up site offices along the route and deployed necessary equipment required for the project,” he said.

Khato Civils started with the geotechnical investigation in a bid to come up with the final designs in readiness for an environmental and social impact assessment on February 14 2017.

 

The whole project is expected to be completed in 2026 depending on the availability of the full amount required to execute the project. “The project is now ready to progress into construction phase upon the signing and conclusion of funding/loan agreement between financiers and the government.”

 

Mnyani said that the Malawi government was supporting the project and providing all necessary financial guarantees required to secure required funding.  

“The Malawi Government has approved MK 105 billion (R1.2billion) to finance its 30% of the project cost and is currently seeking to raise equity capital from the private sector, representing a 70% of the balance of the project cost,” he said.

A special purposes vehicle, namely Salima Lilongwe Water Supply Company, has been established and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Minister of Finance and Minister of Water and Sanitation in terms of the Articles of Association. The SPV is governed by a Board appointed by the relevant ministry of the Government of Malawi.

Primary components of the project include an intake tower with pumps and water treatment facilities right from the abstraction point in SengaBay- Salima to Lilongwe, a distance of 125 km.

Water treatment will be done through pressure filters with an overall plant capacity of 4166 cubic metres per hour. The filters will be twenty-two horizontal air scoured pressure filters each with a capacity of 200 cubic metres per hour.

Disinfection will be by means of gas chlorination. Khato Civils will also build clear water tanks and pumping stations along the 125 km stretch, the first one at Lifuwu in Salima with a capacity of 2500 cubic metres.

The treated water will then be conveyed from Lifuwu to Kanyenyeva, which is located 51 kilometres in the same district. At Kanyenyeva the water will be pumped to Dowa turnoff clear water tank, a distance of 21 km.

From there the water will gravitate 37 km to Kanengo water tanks. It is from this stage that water will now be distributed through the existing Lilongwe Water Board’s systems to the city’s residents.

The residents in Salima and Dowa will also equally benefit from access to potable water as they fall within the stretch of the project’s catchment area.

“From another perspective the project will create in excess of 4000 jobs and a lot more spin-off opportunities for small and medium enterprises,” Mnyani said.