The Department of Water and Sanitation says it is still committed to finalising the project to raise the Clanwilliam Dam wall.

According to the department the project could not be implemented as planned in the current financial year due to budget cuts by National Treasury.

The DWS says the budget cuts affected all infrastructure projects across government over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework period.

“In the case of the Clanwilliam Dam project, it would have meant that the department would have to stop some of the projects where the department was already on site. This would have been more costly as we would have had to pay for the standing time on those projects,” the department noted in a statement.

“The Construction South team was not only appointed for the Clanwilliam project. They are currently being utilised in other projects and interventions being implemented in the southern cluster,”the department explained.

“The department is still committed to finalise funding for the Clanwilliam Dam as a result the project forms part of the list of projects that have been earmarked as potential investing projects”the department concluded.