Desalination plant mooted for Coega

● Sea water scheme proposed to help augment Bay’s dwindling supply

As the city seeks options to augment Nelson Mandela Bay’s water supply, it is proposing that the Coega Development Corporation be considered as an implementing agent for a desalination plant.

This was the recommendation of executive director of infrastructure and engineering Walter Shaidi in a report to the portfolio committee.

The report presented the metro’s short- to long-term water augmentation and drought intervention plans.

In his report, Shaidi said with no more major dams available in the water management area that supplies the metro, desalination of sea water was inevitable to augment the water supply.

“With the Nooitgedacht system plant to be in place by 2021, the water shortage will continue on the western supply side. With the metro’s resources focused at its current projects, the Coega Development Corporation was approached to assist the metro in securing funding and be an implementing agent for the city in the desalination projects,” Shaidi wrote.

A desalination plant was one of the infrastructure projects the National Treasury gave the green light to worth a combined R1.4bn.

The projects, which are aimed at ensuring a secure supply of water and electricity as well as infrastructure for the Coega special economic zone (SEZ), would help attract investors to the Bay.

The item was meant to be tabled and debated at an infrastructure and engineering committee meeting yesterday, but was deferred pending a presentation from Coega on its capability to implement such a project.

A capability statement compiled by the CDC project manager, Keith du Plessis, said the state-owned-enterprise and the metro were concluding an agreement for the CDC to become the implementer for the desalination plant.

Du Plessis wrote that they had been in discussion for some time on water-related projects, considering the symbolic relationship between the metro and the entity.

“The purpose of the CDC’s activities for the metro would include delivering a desalination project at the Coega SEZ linking it with the Olifantskop reservoir; source funding and an operator for a desalination plant at the Schoenmakerskop area and source funding for a pipeline to connect the Coega SEZ with the western side of the metro.”

At yesterday’s meeting, DA councillor Eric Jinikwe proposed the meeting be postponed until Coega could attend and give a presentation on its capability to be the metro’s implementation agent.

“In light of the oversight and confusion by MMC [Andile] Lungisa I propose that the committee postpone the meeting so that we can make a decision that’s everlasting.

“The decision will talk about big money.

“We know Bhisho has put aside some money but we’d like to know how the metro will implement this desalination.

“Let’s postpone it and rearrange so that we have time to look at it extensively,” Jinikwe said.

Infrastructure and engineering political head Lungisa agreed, saying the metro was in no rush, and that the meeting would be moved to Thursday next week.

“There’s no rush because we’re still drawing up a business model, including our own investigations as the municipality on the site,” Lungisa said.