Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA)

The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) is a state-owned entity that finances and implements bulk raw water infrastructure projects in South Africa. TCTA is an agency of the Department of Water and Sanitation and is based in Centurion. Its vision is to be a world-class enabler of sustainable infrastructure for a water-secure South Africa.

Registered name

Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA)

Type

State-owned entity (bulk water infrastructure finance and delivery)

Fields funded

Auditing, environmental science, financial management, treasury, investment and economics

Website

tcta.co.za

Email

bursaries@tcta.co.za

Born for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project

The South African government founded TCTA through a Notice of Establishment published on 12 December 1986. TCTA’s first mandate was to finance and build the South African part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which transfers water from Lesotho’s mountains to the Vaal River System that supplies Gauteng. TCTA was a special purpose vehicle to fulfil South Africa’s treaty obligations to Lesotho. An amended notice under the National Water Act, gazetted on 24 March 2000, broadened TCTA’s mandate to other water projects.

Building dams off budget

TCTA describes itself as a specialised liability management body. The government uses TCTA to finance and build dams and transfer schemes off budget, reducing government borrowing, while passing the cost of infrastructure to water users under the “user-pay principle”. Each TCTA project is ring-fenced with its own bank account, income agreement and funding programme.

TCTA recently showcased its work at the biennial Water Institute of Southern Africa conference in Cape Town in July 2026, and joined partners to protect the Apies River.

Project Naledi

TCTA launched Project Naledi in 2005 to recruit, fund and employ young people from previously disadvantaged areas, with a particular focus on rural areas, as a contribution to national skills initiatives of the time. Project Naledi has two parts, a bursary scheme and an internship scheme, aimed at identifying capable students from disadvantaged communities and recruiting them into engineering, project management, finance and accounting.

The TCTA bursary

TCTA’s comprehensive bursary covers registration and tuition, prescribed books, learning tools, accommodation, meals and a monthly allowance. The last round funded auditing, environmental science, management or law, and financial management, treasury, investment or economics, for South Africans under 35 from households earning under R350 000.

TCTA’s online form is live without a closing date; the last published round closed on 31 January 2025.

How to research TCTA

Read about the Lesotho Highlands Water Project’s second phase, and email TCTA to confirm the 2027 deadline.

See the Department of Water and Sanitation bursary.