President Jacob Zuma recently visited Lesotho to witness the start of phase two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), reports iOL. It’s part of the government’s infrastructure development program.

According to LHWP, with this phase South Africa will increase water security for Gauteng, while Lesotho will receive royalty payments from South Africa, and 3,500 to 4,000 jobs will be created during the construction phase.

Through treaty between South Africa and Lesotho, South Africa is responsible for costs relating to water transfer and  Lesotho handles implementation cost of the pumped storage scheme.

The World Bank funded phase one of the project, completed in 2004. But the phase was marked by scandal–four multinational construction companies were fined for giving bribes to officials. “The governments of South Africa and Lesotho said they had made concerted efforts to lower the risk of corruption in phase two,” reports iOL.