President Jacob Zuma says the opening of De Hoop Dam is a celebration as it takes development forward in Limpopo. The De Hoop Dam, the 13th largest dam in the country, was officially opened this week.

The dam forms part of the Olifants River Water Resources Development Project and is one of the key projects that falls under the umbrella of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Committee.

The dam has two primary purposes. The first is to supply water to the towns, industries and poorly serviced rural communities in Sekhukhune, Waterberg, and Capricorn Districts of the Limpopo province. The second is to supply water to mines in order to help unlock vast mineral deposits, mainly in the form of platinum group metals. According to Zuma, this makes the dam a catalyst for both social and economic development for the region.

Acting Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Minister Angie Motshekga said more than 800 000 people in the Sekhukhune area will benefit from secure and improved domestic water supply.

According to Zuma, the dam cost R3 billion to construct and created 1 000 jobs during the construction period.

Construction

Several innovations were made in the construction of the dam and the records were broken.

Significant improvements in the roller-compactedconcrete (RCC) mix design have wereimplemented during construction, leading to a vast simplification of the construction process. This allowed the highest construction rates ever achieved in South Africa and resulted in the Department of Water Affairs becoming a world leader in RCC construction technology.

The dam also broke the record of 40 600 m³ of concrete placed in a month by placing a total concrete volume of 103 000 m³ in 21 days. This record was broken again when a total concrete volume of 131 000 m³ was placed in 28 days.

Read more about the construction of De Hoop Dam in the March edition of IMIESA: https://3smedia.co.za/publication/imiesa/