Road & Water Upgrades (ADI) |
ADI Consulting Engineers,
Mpumalanga |
How civil engineering and technology lay the groundwork for the future
For design technician, Papy Kangudi, civil engineering represents the precision of science coupled with the foundations for a functioning society.
His work at ADI Consulting Engineers and his management role with Monde Civils has offered an important training ground for high-level infrastructure projects in South Africa since leaving the Democratic Republic of Congo, his country of birth.
Speaking about the breadth of projects ADI Consulting Engineers are involved with, Kangudi says: "To date we have worked on many exciting initiatives. One of these included an 18km road upgrade for Piet Retief Avenue. The project was requested by the Mpumalanga Department of Roads and Transport and was valued at R56 million."
The two-phase project was shared between Vela VKE and ADI, with the 18km portion of road falling to ADI. According to Kangudi, the actual design component of the work took him one week to complete using AllyCAD in consultation with the client.
N2 ROAD UPGRADE
"We upgraded the road from a gravel surface to a black top surface and found ourselves constantly having to change the horizontal and vertical alignment during the project's completion.
In addition to this, the venture required the upgrade of drainage structures. When you have resources like AllyCAD and Civil Designer, its always nice to know that you can complete high level projects without having to compromise on accuracy and quality."
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Besides the N2 intersection, which presented minor problems, the design itself was fairly straightforward.
"We were able to resolve the tricky N2 section by drawing the relevant intersection by hand. It was well worth it because the upgrade made it easier for residents to utilise the access road from Mondi Plantation to Driefontein. Residents were therefore extremely pleased because the road, located near a mining site, is currently one of the main roads in use."
WATER TO COMMUNITIES
Kangudi has also been involved with water reticulation projects on behalf of the Bush Bakeridge Municipality for the villages of Seville A and Leroro, encompassing the extraction of water from boreholes into reservoirs for resident consumption.
Says Kangudi, "We used AllyCAD to design the pipe and reservoir layout and made good use of the Water module in Civil Designer.
This module is incredible because it effortlessly calculates the water demand that is required for pump reservoirs. You can also control the flow of water and have this regulated by time."
Ensuring that basic services like these are provided to the people on the ground is fundamental to Kangudi's pride in his profession.
"It is such a privilege to be a Civil Engineer because you cannot have a civilisation or a civil society without a civil engineering industry."
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