Maritsane Dam
Project Date
1994 - 1996
Contract Type
EPCM
Client
Sapekoe (Pty) Ltd
Summary of Services
- Design
- Procurement
- Construction Management
- Quality Management
- Project Management
Project Description
The Maritsane Dam is located on the Maritsane River, a tributory of the Marite River, which flow into the Sabie-Sand system. Maritsane Dam was built as a multi-purpose dam, namely to supply irrigation water to the nearby coffee and macadamia estates of Sapekoe as well as to provide drinking water to the communities around Bushbuckridge. Maritsane Dam was the first dam built in South Africa in the labour-intensive rubble rock masonry concrete construction technique, that was developed in Zimbabwe for the construction of single curvature arch dams. Reonet investigated several design options for Sapekoe and the rubble rock masonry concrete dam turned out to be by far the most economical type of dam to build on the available sites. Vrede-Thembalihle Dam has a capacity of 2.05 million cubic meters, is 18 meters high and has a spillway crest length of 110 meters.
Project Benefits
The project delivered the following benefits:
- Water security to the communities of Bushbuckridge
- Creation of economic activity and jobs through irrigation agriculture
- Generating many jobs during the construction of the dam
- Skills transfer in the construction industry
