M&R says it has fast-track desalination solution to water crisis

LISTED engineering and construction group Murray & Roberts (M&R) claims its power and water business can provide a desalination solution fast.

Henry Laas, chief executive of M&R, said the group’s power and water business was capable of providing a desalination solution that would produce its first water after only eight weeks and could provide 30 million litres of water a day within 20 weeks.

That amounts to about half of the City of Cape Town’s total daily water requirement.

Laas confirmed the company planned to have discussions with the City of Cape Town about it.

He labelled as “short-sighted” opposition to investments in desalination in Cape Town on grounds that it could rain in the next six months and solve the water shortage.

“If you look at the trends and predictions, Cape Town is going to become a very dry place. It’s not a short-term problem.

“It may be solved with good rain but that won’t take the problem away. Cape Town will have another water problem two or three years down the line,” he said.

Listed Growthpoint Properties and the Public Investment Corporation, the equal joint owners of the Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront, said last month they aimed to have a desalination plant operational by next year to provide water for the precinct and mitigate the risk to their investment caused by Cape Town’s water shortage crisis.

David Green, chief executive of the V&A Waterfront, confirmed the desalination plant would produce between 3.5 million and 5 million litres of water a day and would cost about R200 million.

The property assets of the V&A Waterfront are valued at a total of R17.4bn.

In a separate initiative, the V&A Waterfront donated a site at the precinct to the City of Cape Town for a temporary desalination plant.

Councillor Xanthea Limberg mayco member for informal settlements, water and waste services and energy, confirmed the 2-million litres a day desalination plant at the V&A Waterfront was on track to start producing water by March and April this year.

The 7-million litres a day Strandfontein project was due to start producing water from next month.

However, the Monwabisi project, which is the same size and scheduled to start producing water this month, was delayed to facilitate further community engagement in the area.

But Limberg said that following advice from the World Bank, the city had shifted focus from desalination to optimising use of aquifers in the short-term as this was more cost effective and quicker to implement than temporary desalination plants.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said yesterday that Day Zero had been pushed back to mid-May, largely because of the continued water-saving efforts of the residents and businesses of Cape Town together with a sharp reduction of agricultural drawdowns.