Africa-Press – Lesotho. Lesotho Lowlands Water Development Project phase two (LLWDP-II) has been extended to cover Maputsoe, Hlotse, Mohale ‘s Hoek and Mafeteng. This was revealed at LLWDP 2022 Expo on Friday held in celebration of the World
Water Week. The theme for this year’s World Water Week was “Ground water, making the invisible visible”. LLWDP-II will in this case support water infrastructure investments
to address water scarcity challenges so as to meet water demand in the lowlands of Lesotho. The LLWDP Manager Mathealira Lerotholi said LLWDP-II is designed and being
implemented as a brain-child of the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme. He said the LLWDP-II concerns itself with the two prioritized packages, being the
zones two and three packages in the Hlotse and Maputsoe area, and the zones six and seven packages in the Mohale’s Hoek and Mafeteng area respectively.
It is financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank in partnership with the European Union and the government of Lesotho. The Project Manager further emphasized the importance of project mentioning that it
will transform the lives of Basotho. The councils that will benefit from this project are the Hlotse urban, Maputsoe, Maomafubelu and Litjotjela. He said
there will be a water facility of 25 million liters per day and a huge water pipe that can provide water for 115,000 people. Also the project will benefit
the Mafeteng urban, Mohale‘s Hoek urban, Mashaleng council, Siloe local, Qibing local, Tsanatalana and Makoabating with water treatment facility with a capacity of 57 million liters
per day together with a pipeline that will benefit approximately 149,000 people. The entire project cost M32, 840, 201, 100.00. Lerotholi also made it
clear that families that will be affected by the project through any damage of property will be fully compensated. The deputy Minister of Water Hon. Mankoe Maime said in attempt to meet the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), more especially SDG number six which advocates for availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, the
government had taken initiatives to address the supply of portable water to communities. These initiatives include the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme
which birthed the Metolong dam and other water supply programs covering zone four and five. Maime said the government of Lesotho is further committed to
implement other phases of the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme while ensuring that everyone has access to portable water, sanitation and hygiene services.
The World Bank’s Country Representative for Lesotho Yoichiro Ishihara said the expo was a great idea because it educates people on the importance of water.
Ishihara said if the project is implemented, it could be a game changer for Lesotho because Lesotho has a lot of potential with its water. He said what he
has recognized in the past two years is that Lesotho has natural disasters every six months and now its experiencing floods. Ishihara notified the water
department that rainfall cannot be controlled but they can manage water for agricultural purposes. He said it is a pity that some of the farmers he comes across in Lesotho still complain about lack of water while there are floods now that can be used to the farmers’ advantage.
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