N$170m pipeline replacement begins in Erongo

NamWater has broken ground on two pipeline replacement projects in the Erongo region with a combined construction value of more than N$170 million.

The Schwarzekuppe–Swakopmund project was launched on 29 July and the Omdel–Wlotzkasbaken project on 30 July. Both fall under the Water Sector Support Programme Phase 1 and are financed from a concessional loan facility of N$875 million secured in 2022, with funding from the German federal ministry for economic cooperation and development through KfW Development Bank and from the Namibian government through NamWater.

The Schwarzekuppe–Swakopmund contract is valued at about N$84 million and covers the last unreplaced sections of the Kuiseb–Collector 2–Schwarzekuppe–Swakopmund pipeline, commissioned in 1974. Five kilometres of glass-reinforced plastic pipe will be installed above ground and four kilometres buried closer to the coast. NamWater says the above-ground section will serve as a controlled pilot to test the material's corrosion resistance in coastal conditions. More than 62 kilometres of the 80-kilometre system have been replaced in earlier phases. Construction started on 14 July, ahead of the ceremony.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform Ruthy Masake delivered the keynote address at both ceremonies.

"This final nine kilometres completes the rehabilitation of the entire 80-kilometre pipeline system that has served this coast since 1974," she said.

Urgent intervention

The Omdel–Wlotzkasbaken contract is valued at about N$86.6 million and covers a 10.3-kilometre section that is about 45 years old and built of prestressed concrete. It will be replaced with ductile cast-iron pipe installed above ground.

NamWater chief executive Abraham Nehemia said the section "now shows significant signs of ageing and corrosion" and that it "has become a critical bottleneck that requires urgent replacement". The section operates at the highest pressures in the Omdel Water Supply Scheme. NamWater attributes the increased pressures to the integration of desalinated water into the coastal system.

Once completed, the line will carry up to nine million cubic metres of groundwater a year from the Omdel Aquifer and up to 21 million cubic metres of desalinated water a year from the Orano Desalination Plant to the Swakopmund Base Reservoir.

Zhong Mei Engineering Group holds the Schwarzekuppe–Swakopmund contract. NamWater says the Omdel–Wlotzkasbaken contract was awarded to Unik Construction Engineering after a competitive international tender. NamWater is spending about N$4 million on construction supervision for each project.

Both projects run for 12 months, with commissioning anticipated by mid-2027. NamWater expects them to create about 120 jobs: 40 skilled and 80 unskilled.

KfW country director Beatrice Lucke said: "Like all infrastructure, pipelines have a finite design life. Eventually, the greatest risk is no longer that they fail, but that we postpone their rehabilitation."

Masake said bulk water demand on the coast is projected to rise from 31 million cubic metres a year to 48 million cubic metres a year by 2050.