The Civil Engineering Contractor January 2019 | Page 28

TECHNOLOGY
It would also create jobs, which are
sorely needed.
“As far as I can tell, the government
has not followed through on the
timely delivery of stipends for
enrolees, nor provided adequate
access to apprenticeships or job
opportunities, among other issues. If
it were done properly, it is hard for
me to think of a better way to spend
taxpayer money than by training
15 000 plumbers to go to work
repairing the nation’s infrastructure
and endowing them with a lifelong
skill in the process, one that is
not going to be easily replaced by
automation.
“I think it is more useful to
think of the War on Leaks as a
supply enhancement measure, since
you are effectively returning that
lost water to the system. I think
reducing consumption is extremely
important. There is a real dearth of
information about water in South
Africa. The government stopped
publishing the Green Drop and Blue
MDA Consulting senior associate,
Natalie Reyneke.
“I think of desal[ination] the way I think of the nuclear
deal — yes it solves the problem, but it probably
creates more in the long run.”
Drop reports in 2015, and no one
(as far as I am aware) has a reliable
estimate of how much groundwater
is potentially exploitable, which
could be another important piece
of the puzzle in terms of restoring
stability,” says Donnenfeld.
Given South Africa’s debt situation
and the uncertainty of the rand,
Donnenfeld says he does not see a
way to improve the country’s water
infrastructure without some degree
of PPPs. “I don’t think they’re
necessarily a bad thing, but I do think
that South Africa can negotiate them
better. In terms of infrastructure
investment, I think the ripest areas
are wastewater treatment and fixing
leaky pipes. They are inexpensive
and will deliver immediate benefits.
Desalination may have a place
eventually, but compared to the
other options, it is still very, very
expensive and I don’t think it makes
sense. I think of desal[ination] the
way I think of the nuclear deal —
yes it solves the problem, but it
probably creates more in the long
run.
“It may be possible to restore
stability without PPPs, but I think
that would involve tough political
sacrifices that I’m not sure the
government is prepared for. For
example, I think the DWS has
somewhat revived the War on Leaks,
but I do not think there are any
appropriations for it in the new
budget, which doesn’t make me
terribly optimistic that this is an
actual priority,” says Donnenfeld.
Innovations assist
municipalities
Willie de Jager, MD of Corestruc.
26 | CEC January 2019
De Jager says: “We are encouraged
by President Ramaphosa’s focus on
alternative building technologies.
He made reference to this earlier
this year when highlighting concerns
around basic services in poor areas
of the country.
“The key challenge is to move
from the current 65% availability
of water to 90% reliability by 2019.
This implies a 13% improvement
a year at a national scale, and
27% for the 27 priority district
municipalities. For the worst water
supply authorities, an improvement
of 40% per annum is required. It has
been described as a ticking bomb by
the authorities, and the complexity
of the situation is compounded by
an array of factors. This includes
the state of the economy. There is
currently as much as a 40% shortfall
in the financing that is required
for operation and maintenance of
the infrastructure. It also seems
that much of the focus has been
on attending to the demands of
increasing urbanisation, considering
that government spending on
infrastructure has also not kept
pace with the investment demands
of population growth in the major
cities.
“We have been extensively involved
in various water-augmentation
projects. Reservoirs remain our
main focus. We have built more
than 50 reservoir roofs of various
sizes since our inception in 2010.
The largest of these are the roof
structures we have built for 50Mℓ
reservoirs as part of professional
teams appointed by municipalities.
The demand for our precast-
concrete roof system remains high,
considering the role that it is able
to play in significantly fast-tracking
this critical infrastructure. On these
projects, we are appointed as a
specialist subcontractor to the main
contractor. The main contractor
www.civilsonline.co.za