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Storms River West Sewer Project
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Tsitsikamma is a Khoi word meaning ‘place of
abundant sparkling water’. However it was water of a
different nature that the Masuku Dube Tifflin (MDT)
engineers were to deal with when they took on the
Storms River West sewer project.
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Over the last few years this
popular tourist and holiday destination on the famous
Garden Route has seen rapid growth while new low cost
housing schemes in the area have stretched the
existing civil infrastructure to the limit. "The
Storms River West sewer project was commissioned by
Cacadu District Municipality in response to the recent
infrastructure boom in the region. Our role in the
project was to ensure an adequate sewer main line to
accommodate residents in the area,” explains Mel Dube,
Managing Director at Masuku Dube Tifflin.
The progressive company MDT is based in the Eastern
Cape with branches in Port Elizabeth, East London,
Kokstad and Umtata and was formed via the amalgamation
of Tifflin Purchase & Associates and Eyethu Consulting
Engineers. “Over the last few years MDT has been
privileged enough to work on various exciting
initiatives. Our appointment on this venture in
September 2004 therefore came as no surprise. We were
tasked with the reticulation design
for an intricate sewer network to
handle all the services for the erven,” he says.
“The team developed the initial design of the sewer
network with the use of AllyCAD and Civil Designer’s
Sewer module and found the program to be quite useful in
delivering quick and accurate results. We were
appointed to design the services for 500 erven on an exclusive basis and set about to do the
preliminary drawings using survey data and bitmaps.
Because of the magnitude of the area, we divided the
development of the township into different phases,” he
explains.
Mel recalls that the project was by no means
straight forward. “The existing sewer system was
essentially 3.2 km of 110mm diameter UPVC midblock and
main line and did not even provide manhole locations.
Our first challenge was the initial inspection of the
system which involved house to house visits in order
to accumulate invaluable information." |
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MEL DUBE
Mel Dube is the Managing
Director at Masuku Dube Tifflin Engineers, a young
and dynamic company that draws on the success of
each individual person.
The high level of
expertise in the company’s black partners and
directors reside in the fact that they share an
advanced level of technical expertise as well.
“At Masuku Dube Tifflin we believe in expanding
our horizons to achieve continued and sustained
growth by developing and investing in our staff so
that they
reach new heights,” says Mel.
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"With only limited Afrikaans, this proved to be a difficult
task as we had to check the problems at each house.
Fortunately the community residents and ward councilors were extremely helpful and cooperative
during this time,” says Mel.
Armed with all the relevant information, the team at MDT
diligently set about to complete the project design in the
most cost effective manner. “We took about six months to
complete the R1,5 million project and helped to establish
significant community development and job creation
initiatives in the process. Local labour was sourced from
the community and workers were then trained in pipe laying
skills and employed in the fixture of septic tanks at
standard excavation depths.”
“It was an extremely gratifying experience to work on a
project that had such strong social responsibility ties.
With the Storms River West sewer project we have helped to
establish a vital service and have restored dignity to the
meaning of the name ‘Tsitsikamma’. There are so many
opportunities in and around Port Elizabeth to make a difference and MDT
will continue to provide the kind of service that
communities can depend on.” Mel Dube’s vision for the future
is a positive one and he’s quiet determination will see him
through to achieving even greater success at MDT.”
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Last Updated:
September 20, 2007
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