Construction World March 2017

MARKETPLACE

Acquisition grows groundwater capabilities

Paul Olivier, managing director of JG Afrika, says the acquisition of the 100% black-owned consultancy comes at a time when the management of South Africa’s scarce water resources and the upgrading of related infrastructure have been placed on top of the agenda. This intense focus on water infrastructure is mirrored by the recent appointment of JG Afrika as the geohydrologist professional for a large water and sanitation project for schools in rural areas that is being driven by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works. This contract, awarded to JG Afrika by the firm by Ramgoolam (formerly B. Ramgoolam and Associates), complements the company’s already extensive portfolio of successful water-related initiatives. Just as importantly, it is also the first such project to benefit from the incorporation of Regan Rose’s more than 20 years of management and technical capability in the field under the JG Afrika banner. The founder of Geowater IQ will lead JG Afrika’s existing team of six geohydrological specialists deployed on the water and sanitation upgrade, while managing the entire project, including co-ordinating the activities of the drilling, sustainable-yield testing and borehole equipping subcontractors. The highly regarded geohydrologist has nurtured a long working relationship with JG Afrika’s team in the Zulu Kingdom over the years, including as assistant director of Geohydrology in the Department of Water & Sanitation’s (DWS) Durban office from 2002 to 2005. JG Afrika, a leading multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental consultancy, has grown its groundwater division by acquiring Geowater IQ, a specialist in the field of geohydrology, water-resource management, research and other related disciplines.

TOP: Founder of Geowater IQ Regan Rose has joined JG Afrika’s groundwater team in KwaZulu-Natal. Children enjoy the novelty of pumped groundwater for the first time.

Rose says that he has always valued JG Afrika’s leading expertise in the engineering sector, one of the many drivers behind the acquisition. “I am pleased to have merged Geowater IQ with such a reputable firm of engineers,” he says, adding that it has also been gratifying to immediately start working on this important, but challenging project that forms part of the ongoing second phase of the Department of Education’s Water Supply and Sanitation Programme. As Rose notes, there is ample opportunity to deploy these specialist solutions, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where site assessments undertaken in the Midlands Region in late 2016 confirmed that 88 schools require new groundwater resources, and a further 30 require a review and refurbishment of their existing infrastructure where possible or new groundwater resources will need to be found to supply their needs. 

Handover of donated machinery There was big excitement in Logagane Village on Tuesday, 31 January 2017 for community members of the Ratlou Municipality, as Social Development Deputy Minister, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, handed over Hydraform International interlocking brick and blockmaking machinery, donated by the MTN Foundation and valued at R1,2-million.

partnership started in 2012 and we will continue to support the social development initiative. We will provide training for the Hydraform machinery.” Hydraform International's sales executive, Lusanda Zimase, attended the handover event in Logagane Village and said, “Hydraform’s building system is different to the normal bricks that we know, in that it replaces regularly used bricks and cement with Hydraform blocks that interlock and are dry-stacked. A unique feature of the building system is that it uses soil, to produce an interlocking soil and cement block. By taking the world’s oldest known building material, earth (soil) and giving it form and durability through Hydraform’s innovative technology, the company has developed an earth brick that can reduce costs and construction times. Hydraform boasts other benefits such as: cost savings, empowerment of unskilled people (including women), a simple system, thermal insulation qualities, being three times as efficient as concrete block and twice as efficient as fired clay bricks, reduced transport costs, local soil used from project sites and bricks made where and when needed.” 

Bogopane-Zulu challenged Ratlou community members with mud homes to take every opportunity of using the Hydraform brick and block machinery as a means of eliminating poverty, inequality and unemployment. She added, “Community

members will be able to make bricks and build their own houses. The initiative will reduce unemployment. However, we want them to understand the do-it-yourself (DIY) initiative. More people will be employed in this project after we have registered it as a non-profit organisation (NPO).” “Those who will be working here will receive a stipend. However, the main objective is to ensure that the community stops relying on the government for RDP houses,” said Tebogo Modise, Mayor of Ratlou Municipality. “The project came about after the discovery of more than 3 000 teenage mothers in the area. We want to address socio-economic issues and unemployment.” Executive manager of the MTN Foundation, Graham de Vries, said, “Our

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD MARCH 2017