The Lesotho Highlands Water Project: Dams, Development, and the World Bank

Robert K Hitchcock

doi:10.13189/sa.2015.031004

Abstract

Between 1989 and 2007 the World Bank was one of the funders of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project in southern Africa. This project, which included two large dams (Katse and Mohale), had significant impacts on local people, including loss of grazing, arable land, and resettlement of 71 households in Phase 1A and 325 households in Phase 1B, with a total of 573 people being affected directly, and another 20,000 people affected indirectly (e.g. through loss of natural resources, disruption of travel routes).. Conflicts between LHDA and the World Bank revolved around compensation, resettlement, development, in-stream flow requirements, downstream impacts, the use of project royalties, and the safeguard policies of the World Bank. The impacts of Phase 1 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project are examined, and an assessment of the LHWP relative to other large-scale infrastructure and resettlement projects in Africa and Asia sponsored by the World Bank and other funding agencies is provided.

Highlights

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is one of Africa’s largest hydroelectric projects
Aimed at supplying water to South Africa and electricity to Lesotho, the LHWP Phase 1, which began in 1986 and was completed in 2009, involved the construction of several large dams and other infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and power lines, the relocation or resettlement of some 400 Basotho households, and the provision of compensation and development programs to local communities affected by the inundation of villages, fields, and grazing lands and losses of natural resources
There are a number of lessons to be learned from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project experiences that are applicable to dam and infrastructure projects in other areas of the world

Summary

Background

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is one of Africa’s largest hydroelectric projects. People in the highlands of Lesotho who were being affected by the project, on the other hand, said that they wanted to be consulted, but they wanted to have a say in issues such as whether or not the project should go forward, what kinds and levels of compensation should be provided to project-affected people, and what kinds of land they should receive in exchange for the land that they lost in the project area None of these arguments held sway either with the two governments, the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission, or the World Bank. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project: Dams, Development, and the World Bank major dams constructed over the past century in Africa along with some of the social impacts, including resettlement. “How can our lives, which were dependent on the soil and on rainfall, be the same if we have no land?” Some said, “Our lives depended in part on our cattle and sheep; we do not live close to our animals, and some of them have been stolen.”

Unintended Consequences of the LHWP

Resettlement Issues and Project-affected People

Findings

Conclusions