Workers stacking pre-cast steel reinforced concrete segments used to line a tunnel on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project
Tunnel workers using a special device for lifting and rotating huge and heavy concrete segments, used for lining and supporting a tunnel after excavation, when the cut rock is unstable. The 30 year Lesotho Highlands Water Project was started in 1989 and when fully implemented will transfer 40 per cent of the water from the Orange Senqu River in Lesotho and deliver it through a series of dams tunnels and rivers to the arid industrial heartland of South Africa. Lesotho, the Kingdom in the Sky, is completely surrounded by South Africa and is the highest and one of the poorest nations on earth. It is rich in only one resource: water. White gold. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is one of the worlds largest and most complex construction projects and has dramatically changed life for the remote mountain communities in this tiny Kingdom. There has been relocation and disruption, a huge influx of workers, loss of land and an increase in disease and social problems. The new reservoir itself is a physical barrier to community life. Only time will tell if the revenues that flow from the delivery of water to South Africa will redress the balance.
Size: 4961px × 4969px
Location: Delivery Tunnel North Site, Clarens, South Africa
Photo credit: © qaphotos.com / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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