Africa-Press – Angola. The construction process for the hydraulic projects for the Nduê and Calucuve dams, two of the five structuring projects to combat drought in Cunene province, are currently in the excavation phase of the reservoir.
The statement was made by the secretary of the President of the Republic for the Productive Sector, Isaac dos Anjos, during a visit, this Thursday, which aimed to assess the state of execution of the projects.
Consigned at the end of October 2021, the Nduê and Calucuve dams are part of projects 2 and 3, which will allow access to water for the population, watering of livestock and the practice of irrigated agriculture.
They are intended to guarantee the quality of the water supply to the population, and are expected to meet the needs of more than 135,000 people and 182,000 heads of cattle.
At the time, the supervisor of the work on the Nduê dam, Miguel Costa, said that the contract had a degree of physical execution of 15 percent, with payment in advance.
He said that after the excavation process, the construction of the dam will begin and subsequent raising of the embankments and construction of the hydraulic organs.
The supervisory director of the Calucuve dam, Vasco Costa, said that the work is at 7.5 percent of physical execution with the excavation of the channels, the geotechnical study carried out, deforestation, sanitation of the dam.
After deforesting, cleaning and sanitation of the area, he added, the execution of the injection curtains at the bottom of the dam and the execution of the bottom gallery will begin.
For his part, the Secretary of State for Water, Manuel Quintino, said that the projects will make it possible to accumulate a volume of water to combat the water deficit in this region.
He said that the intention is to create water reserves to meet the needs of local populations, watering livestock and agricultural activity.
According to the Secretary of State, in a first phase the project will be limited to the construction of two dams to guarantee the retention and reserve of water and, later, the conduit channels and respective chimpacas.
He informed that the water intake in Nduê will be downstream of the dam which will follow the conduits and chimpacas channels, while in Calucuve water will be taken through the river profile to Mupa in a length of 70 kilometres.
From Mupa, he added that water will be taken for the channel and the respective chimpacas as far as Ondjiva.
Manuel Quintino expressed satisfaction with the start of work, which defined the axes of the two dams, geological and geotechnical prospecting, assembled shipyards.
“We think that within two to three months the construction process of surveying the body of the dams will be carried out with a view to the works being completed by 2025”, he underlined.
Calucuve and Nduê guarantee 245 million cubic meters of water
With the implementation of projects 2 and 3, it is expected to store 245 million cubic meters of water for the needs of populations, livestock and agricultural activities.
Project 3, the construction of the Ndué dam, is an undertaking led by Synohidro Angola, with a construction period of 30 months, and an estimated budget of around US$192 million.
It will be an earth dam 26 meters high and with a storage volume of 145 million m3 of water, on the Caiúndo river upstream of the Ndué.
Under construction in the Cuvelai water basin, Nduê will have a 75-kilometre network of pipelines and 15 additional chimps.
Calucuve is an earth dam, 19 meters high and a storage volume of 100 million m3 of water.
The project’s budget is around US$177 million, with the Omatapalo-MotaEngil consortium as the responsible contractor, and the work’s execution period is 20 months.
Also called dam 128, it is associated with a network of channels, with an extension of 111 kilometers and over 44 chimpacas.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
