The Komati Basin Development Project

The Swaziland Komati Project Enterprise (SKPE)

Project Overview

Komati Basin Development Project

The Komati Basin Development Project was conceived in the early 1980's to provide irrigation water for farm development in South Africa and Swaziland.

The project in Swaziland consists of three parts:

• The construction of the Maguga Dam
  The cost of this dam, estimated at E900 million, are shared between the Governments of South Africa and Swaziland on a 60/40 basis.
• The development of 7400 hectares of irrigated farms downstream
  The costs of this development will be borne by the Government of Swaziland and the participating smallholders through finance arranged with Government assistance.
• The expansion of the Mhlume sugar mill to accommodate an additional 80,000 tonnes of sugar annually
  The cost of this development will be borne by the private sector.

Downstream Development

The most appropriate commercial crop for the Project Development Area (PDA) is sugarcane, although other crops including vegetables can play significant roles. Sugarcane is well suited to the climate and soils. The presence of an established mill at Mhlume provides additional incentives.

Sugarcane is also a good pioneer crop for smallholders and the single channel through the mill allows farmers to secure finance for development and working capital against crop revenue.

The project has been conceived with these factors in mind and consists of:

• setting up of smallholder associations in the form and composition decided by the members to best further the aims of the project.
• design and implementation of measures to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of the scheme.
• development of irrigated smallholder farms on approximately 7400 hectares of land along the Komati River. The majority of the smallholders will be growing sugar cane.
• monitoring of the measures designed to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of the scheme.

Implementing Agency

The Government has established a company to operate within the framework of the Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act, 1989, to administer and implement the project on its behalf. This company is the Swaziland Komati Project Enterprise (SKPE).

SKPE is wholly owned by the Government and managed by a board of directors chosen from the public and private sector. SKPE is structured to behave like a business even though it does not have market related cost and income streams. At the heart of SKPE is the Government's philosophy of environmental protection and wealth generation through participation of the people.

SKPE's role is to design a project strategy that is:

• Economically beneficial to the nation
• Of service to the people of the development area
• Environmentally sound.

SKPE has developed a philosophy in which the affected people are both customers and colleagues in a project of national importance.

Further Details

Further details of the project can be obtained from:

The Project

Introduction

Project Overview

Komati Basin Development Project

Downstream Development

Implementing Agency

Project Specifics

Feasibility

Design

Implementation

Project Financing

Rates of Return

Project Costs

Project Facts

Key Facts

Project Aims

Consultancy Works - Aims and Outputs

Bibliography

Contact

Contact SKPE

Links

This page was last updated on 05 November 2001