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The SKA South Africa Project has purchased 14 000
hectares around Losberg farm for the SKA and
MeerKAT. The access roads, workshops and accommodation
at the MeerKAT site are ready and the
power lines and optic fibre will follow in 2010. Inside
the huge dish assembly shed the 12 m dish mould
has been prepared. An adjacent building will house six
RFI-shielded containers. A hybrid power transmission
line to the site and the underground optical fibre
cables will connect this facility to a control centre in
Cape Town. Following the renovation of an existing
building, the SKA South Africa Support Base at
Klerefontein, about 80 km from the site, now has
offices, workstations, a mechanical laboratory, a
boardroom and an entertainment area.
The preparation of the astronomy site at Losberg, the
support base at Klerefontein and the infrastructure has
created extensive business and job opportunities in the
area for local people, and there is huge enthusiasm for
the project in these communities.
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