National Projects

The Lower Usutu Smallholder Irrigation Project
LUSIP will be designed in such a way, that the Usuthu River’s peak summer flows will be diverted into a 160 million cubic meter capacity off-river reservoir, impounded by 45 meter high dam walls on the Mhlathuzane and Golome rivers in the south east of Swaziland. Water will then be conveyed to some 11,500 hectares of irrigable land for smallholder production of crops such as sugar cane, citrus, bananas, vegetables, maize and cotton. [Official site]
Maguga Dam Project
The Maguga Dam project is the second in a major development initiative to improve the management of the water resources in the Komati River Basin. The first development being the Driekoppies Dam on the Lomati River in South Africa completed in December 1999.
The Komati Basin Development
Using water from the Maguga Dam, the project will assist smallholder farmers associations downstream of the Maguga Dam on the Komati River to cultivate sugar cane and other crops on 7400 hectares of irrigated fields using water releases from the dam.
400 kV Transmission Line Project
A new aluminium smelter project, MOZAL, has been proposed for Maputo by the international mining house Gencor. The expected initial load of the smelter will be 450 MW in 1999 and increasing to 850 MW some time later. The smelter will be supplied by two new 400 kV lines from ESKOM's Camden and Arnot Power Stations to Maputo. One of the 400 kV lines is routed through Swaziland with significant advantages to the Swaziland Electricity Board (SEB).
4th SEB Feeder Project
The Swaziland Electricity Board (SEB) 4th Feeder project was a feasibility study looking into the various options of improving Swaziland's electricity supply via a feed from ESKOM. The project has been replaced by the 400kV MOZAL project line. Some of the internal 132kV integration proposals will remain in place and connect to the 400kV substation.
Proposed Greenstone Quarry - Malolotja Nature Reserve
The proposed dimension stone quarry is situated within the Malolotja Nature Reserve in north western Swaziland. A lease agreement between King Mswati III the Ngwenyama of Swaziland and Yun-Wei Lee representing Michael Lee Enterprises cc gives the lessee the right to quarry, process, remove and sell "Ventalite" from the lease area of 163 ha located south of Bulembu, Kingdom of Swaziland. Due to the controversial nature of the project the project has not yet been implemented.

This page was last updated on 27 October 2004