Nujoma visits Neckartal Dam

Founding President Sam Nujoma has visited the Neckartal Dam construction site in the //Karas Region.Once completed, the dam will help to irrigate arable land, create jobs and develop the local economy. Italian company Salini Impregilo was awarded the multibillion-dollar contract to construct the dam. During a tour of the dam last week, Nujoma emphasised the importance of projects of this nature for the development of the country. Salini project manager, Guido Scalzi, oversaw a presentation for Nujoma and his delegation, which included veterans affairs deputy minister Hilma Nicanor, //Karas governor Lucia Basson and Gaudentia Krohne, the mayor of Keetmanshoop.The dam construction costs have escalated over the years. Last year, the agriculture ministry said the costs had increased from N$3.2 billion to N$5.7 billion.The ministry said at the time that government had paid N$3.1 billion, but still needed to cough up a further N$2.6 billion.According to Salini spokesperson, Gilles Castonguay, the construction of the dam has created jobs and internships for more than 2 000 people, since it began five years ago, as part of the first phase of the Neckartal irrigation scheme.“It will capture the waters of the Fish River to facilitate the irrigation of the surrounding land, creating jobs and income for the //Karas Region and the country at large,” said Castonguay. According to him, the dam will be the largest water storage facility in Namibia, at three times the size of the Hardap Dam.With a height of 80 metres and a crest length of 518 metres, Neckartal is a curved gravity dam. Castonguay said it will have an intake tower housing pipes, valves and gates to bring water captured by the future reservoir to a turbine room with two 1.5-megawatt Francis turbines.“Once completed, the dam is expected to take two years to fill up the reservoir, based on calculations of an estimated average runoff of 500 million cubic metres of water a year during the rainy season,” said Castonguay. The future reservoir will have a holding capacity of 880 million cubic metres of water, the equivalent of 300 000 Olympic swimming pools. Its surface area will cover nearly 40 square kilometres. Castonguay said the dam will take water from the reservoir to the abstraction weir, located 13km downstream. Running 360 metres in length and nine metres in height, the weir will then send the water another 10km along a steel pipe to the balancing dam, with a reservoir capacity of 90 000 cubic metres. From there, the water will be directed to a future irrigation system covering 5 000 hectares.ELLANIE SMIT

Nujoma visits Neckartal Dam

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Namibian Sun 2026-05-11

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Nujoma visits Neckartal Dam

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Namibian Sun 2026-05-11

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