11. LHDA seems to take a long time before they respond to community queries? Why is this so and how can it be improved?

12. The LHDA is contravening the Constitution of Lesotho by not providing the whole compensation packages to the individuals. Why is this? 

13. Why does LHDA employ only the locals (in the vicinity of the project area) in the construction works?

14. Why does the lump sum compensation for arable land calculation not come to the total provided as cost per hectare x the 50 years provided for compensation?

15. Most of the affected people feel that the project has not brought any benefits to them. What is LHDA's position on this and will this not affect the responsiveness of communities to be affected by further phases of the project?

LHDA seems to take a long time before they respond to community queries? Why is this so and how can it be improved?

1. Most queries that come to LHDA are compensation-related. There is an existing Compensation Policy in place, which requires that all properties that are to be affected by any LHWP work be verified to ascertain their existence, quantity and condition. The team that undertakes the verification exercise comprises of property owners, community representatives and LHDA representatives then such properties are compensated accordingly. Despite this process queries still occur and when they do, sometimes the whole process has to be repeated and the Conflict Resolution Committee has to be called in where resolution is not reached. This can be a lengthy process.

2. It has been determined that one of the contributing factors to this potentially lengthy process, is lack of information or in some cases misinterpretation of the available information. In an effort to improve on this, information sharing forums with communities on the Compensation Policy have been organised and need to be constantly held until communities understand the policy thoroughly.

Back to Top

The LHDA is contravening the Constitution of Lesotho by not providing the whole compensation packages to the individuals. Why is this?

LHDA is not contravening the Constitution of Lesotho. The Treaty provides for betterment of the lives of the people affected by the project. Except for arable land, all compensation is provided to affected people as a whole package. For direct losses this package includes compensation for property (residential and commercial houses/properties), other structures (kraals, outbuildings etc.,) garden land, trees, disturbance allowance, construction of a VIP latrine for every resettled household even if they did not have a VIP latrine). But even then, there is still a window of opportunity for an affected person to access their compensation in a lump sum for investment for the future.

Back to Top

Why does LHDA employ only the locals (in the vicinity of the project area) in the construction works?

LHDA has an employment policy, which has been developed with together with the communities. The policy requires contractors to give first preference for unskilled work to people from the local communities, before considering other people from Lesotho. Semi-skilled and skilled labour has to be sourced from Lesotho, and then internationally.

Back to Top

Why does the lump sum compensation for arable land calculation not come to the total provided as cost per hectare x the 50 years provided for compensation?

The compensation period has been equated to the estimated economic life of the dam; that is, 50 (fifty) years. The present productivity cannot be prorated over a 50-year period according to financial principles. The current value of output devaluates over time due to the fact that the purchasing power of a specific currency decreases over time. For example, if M200 would buy one 200 bushels of grain today, the following year the same money would buy say 195 bushels of grain only. The M200 would have to be escalated every year by the amount of inflation such that one keeps getting the 200 bushels of grain. This means therefore that if one were to get all the potential bushels of grain today, the monetary equivalent of that would be lower because the inflation factor would not be applied that would still warrant the same amount of bushels.

Back to Top

Most of the affected people feel that the project has not brought any benefits to them. What is LHDA's position on this and will this not affect the responsiveness of communities to be affected by further phases of the project?

In reality the project has brought in a number of benefits to the affected people as well as the nation at large. Other than benefits that are directly derived by those directly affected, the services such as medical, road networks and telecommunication have improved in the project areas. These create a platform for other developments, in particular the tourism industry which so far remains relatively untapped. For the nation, to date more that M800million have been collected as revenues from this project.

Back to Top

Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
Copyright © 2002  [LHWP]. All rights reserved.
Revised: May 04, 2006 .