Webuild: Senqu Bridge inaugurated in Lesotho

Built by Webuild as lead partner of a joint-venture, the Senqu Bridge is a key component of Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Africa’s largest water transfer scheme developed by Lesotho and South Africa

Stretching 825 metres with a 100-metre central span, it is an extradosed bridge – the first of its kind in the kingdom – built in extremely challenging geography and weather conditions

Senqu Bridge ensures road access to capital city, preventing mountain communities from being isolated by future reservoir of Polihali Dam

MILAN, April 22, 2026 – In the valley carved by the Senqu River amidst the mountains of Lesotho’s northeastern highlands, Webuild has completed the engineering feat of building the Senqu Bridge. Inaugurated today, the 825-metre-long structure overcomes a barrier to be created by the future reservoir of the Polihali Dam in the Drakenberg Mountains. It serves as a strategic infrastructure for mobility and water transition in the kingdom. The bridge will guarantee access to the capital Maseru by road, allowing mountain communities to retain access to essential services.

The bridge was built by the Webuild Group as lead partner of an international joint-venture on behalf of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA). It marks an important element in the development of Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Launched in 1986, the LHWP is a binational initiative between Lesotho and South Africa aimed at harnessing the water resources in the kingdom’s highlands in the largest water transfer scheme in Africa.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho and the President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. The event confirmed the strategic importance of the project for both countries.

“The Senqu Bridge is a concrete response to an epochal challenge,” commented Webuild Chief Executive Officer Pietro Salini. “We often forget what life would be like without public infrastructure. It would be a life of unbreachable distances, inaccessible resources and missed opportunities. With this bridge, we have overcome a natural barrier to secure Lesotho’s water and energy future. Major infrastructure projects are enablers of development worldwide and an act of care for communities: they overcome geographical barriers to establish vital connections, supporting economic progress and social well-being.”

With partners from Lesotho and South Africa, Webuild was able to operate in particularly complex climatic conditions – marked by sudden gusts of winds and snowfall – while combining advanced engineering solutions with the enhancement of local skills. The bridge’s construction required highly targeted engineering choices, including work platforms reaching heights of up to 88 metres, access roads carved into rock faces and temporary structures adjusted on a daily basis to cope with weather conditions. Training programmes and operational and safety procedures tailored to the specific challenges of the mountain environment were also essential.

The Senqu Bridge is the first extradosed bridge in Lesotho, a structure combining features of cable-stayed and girder bridges. This design was selected to ensure high resistance to strong winds blowing from the Drakensberg mountain range. Overall, the bridge features 16 spans, installed using techniques specifically developed to cope with extreme gradients and accessibility limitations. The central span is 100 metres long, while the piers range from 15 to 90 metres in height and adapt to the varying depth of the valley floor.

Located between the towns of Oxbow and Mokhotlong in the northeast of the kingdom, the bridge is strategically linked to the future Polihali Dam. Without the bridge, the waters of the dam’s reservoir would have submerged key sections of the A1 trunk road, isolating Mokhotlong and numerous mountain villages. The Senqu Bridge resolves this critical issue, ensuring these communities do not remain isolated, safeguarding their socio-economic balance.

Once the LHWP is completed, Lesotho will benefit from additional energy capacity and revenues from water supply to South Africa, while South Africa will gain supplementary water transfer to the industrial Gauteng region, strengthening water security in the country’s most economically strategic areas.

Webuild has a long-standing presence in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, having contributed to the construction of several major pieces of infrastructure, including the Katse Dam, one of the highest arch dams in Africa; the Mohale Dam; as well as tunnels and related hydraulic works. Globally, the Group has built 1,023 kilometres of bridges and viaducts for more than 300 major road, highway and railway projects. Among the most notable works are the Genoa-San Giorgio Bridge, completed in record time; the Second Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey; and the skytrain bridge of Sydney Metro Northwest, a curved cable-stayed bridge crowning the four-kilometre viaduct also built by the Group as part of the first phase of the Sydney’s metro system development.