Bagatelle Dam team from China in Mauritius

A delegation from the China International Water & Electric Corp (CWE), which was chosen by the government in Beijing to join bid negotiations with Mauritius for the construction of the Bagatelle Dam, is presently in Mauritius.

The project, with an estimated cost of Rs3.4 billion (dam, water treatment plant and pipelines), is expected to start as soon as the tenders are officially allocated in a few months.

Members of the delegation met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, Dr Rashid Beebeejaun on Tuesday. The Chinese team also met the President of the Republic, Sir Anerood Jugnauth.

In parliament last week, the DPM had justified the choice of China for this project. He also revealed that by choosing a Chinese company, Mauritius had saved Rs426 million.

The financing of the project is through a concessionary loan of Yuan800 million (Rs3.4 billion) from the Chinese government. The loan has an annual interest rate of 2% (compared to an average 4%), with a five-year moratorium period over a repayment period of up to 15 years.

The new dam will have a storage capacity of 13.2 million cubic metres and will meet additional water demand for the Highlands project, the new developments at La Tour Koenig Industrial Zone and the Port area.

The objective is to create the necessary water infrastructure to meet the present and future water demand of the Port Louis and Lower Plaines Wilhems regions up to 2050 as well as to increase water availability for irrigation.

Presently, these regions experience considerable shortages of water during the dry season. The project also entails the construction of a treatment plant with a capacity of 60,000 m3/day and associated pipelines to convey treated water from the dam to Lower Plaines Wilhems and Port Louis South.

Construction should be completed by the end of 2013. The Bagatelle Dam will be located across Terre Rouge river, one of the tributaries of Grand River North West. It will be built on a surface area of 125 hectares.

It will enable water presently supplied to Lower Plaines Wilhems from Mare aux Vacoas to be diverted to gradually supplement supply in the Upper Plaines Wilhems area.