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THE NECKARTAL DAM

The Neckartal dam will be constructed in the Synfontein and Berseba area, some 60 kilometer north west of Keetmanshoop in the Karas Region. The project is an initiative of the Namibian Government through the Ministry of Agriculture Water and Forestry (MAWF) the project will be built at the costs of N$2.8billion.

The first ever survey of the Neckartal dam was conducted in the early 1900 during the German colonial occupation but was dismissed as non-viable because it was believed that the low local rainfall (less than 200mm per year) would never see the dam fill up instead there Naude dam, about 20kilometers outside Keetmanshoop was built to supply the main settlement in Southern Namibia as well as start an irrigation scheme that still is only operating at a fraction of its capacity to date. The first phase of the Neckartal dam project was to construct a gravel road leading to the dam site and is expected to be completed in April 2013 the construction of the road starter in May 2012.According to the project manager Mr.Hariod Koch he told Nampa that by the 12 April the construction of the gravel road will, be completed and even the temporary power supply which will be use during the actual dam construction will also be completed. The next phase will be the fencing off the dam area to allow the actual construction of the dam and then the pumping station and pipelines water purpose. The tender for the clearing of the road to the dam site was awarded to K L Engineering construction from Windhoek. However there is no exact date when the actual construction of the dam will start as the tender for the project is being dealt with the Tender board and the MAWF.

With the multimillion dollar Neckartal dam project of ground a total of 23 companies from all over the World tendered for the construction of the dam. The companies that shows interest at the closing date of the tender where six Chinese ,five South Africa, two Italians, two Portuguese ,one Moroccan and Indian companies submitting they bids. Only one Namibian company, Gri-Nakor Namibia tendered while the two other where joint ventures indicated their interest. The contract was then awarded to a Chinese company for N$800 million less but then after a week the decision was reverse controversially and awarded it to a controversial Italian construction firm Impregilo to build the Neckartal dam after a key GRN officials had irregularly orchestrated.

The think took another u-turn as the project manager Harold Koch was side line after the tender was awarding to the Chinese and was replaced by Mr.Zedekia Nehemia seen as a “yes man” by the industry .Last but not least Mr. Koch decline to speak to the media and Mr. Nehemia could not be reach for comment.

Reference

http://www.newera.com.na/articles/48060/Neckartal-delays-cost-a-fortune