Page 123 - SAICE book proof 2 LATEST JULY 2014

s a i c e

ArOUND OUr BOrDErS - fAr AND NEAr

A book like this cannot be complete without looking
at a couple of projects beyond our borders, projects
either designed and/or built by the South African civil
engineering profession and industry. No tourist in
southern Africa can afford for example to miss going
to the magnificent Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
Water from the Lesotho Highlands that was destined for
the Atlantic Ocean is diverted across the mountains to
Gauteng and some of it lands up in the Indian Ocean
at the Limpopo mouth in Mozambique after passing
alongside Botswana and Zimbabwe. On the other hand
our civil engineering giants have tracks that fan out
across Africa, as far away as Dubai, St Helena and even
Antarctica. From a civil engineering point of view this is
not really strange since we are not confined by borders.
Toll roads and freeways cross the border at various
places as do railway lines. Maputo has for example
become increasingly attractive as a harbour serving
Gauteng and as such civil engineering paves the way
– all the way.

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