Inadequate and fragile infrastructure could do more harm to a large number of people 
in the short term than current global warming concerns, says designer, manufacturer and distributor of piping and related 
products Rare group marketing director Allistair Balutto.

South Africa is challenged by ageing infra-
structure, escalating costs of services, greater 
demand for new service delivery and a shrinking skilled and experienced work- 
force.

“The challenges are compounded because we have to deal with inherited shortcomings of existing infrastructure regarding age and access and an unprecedented need for new infrastructure driven by rapid urbanisation,” he asserts.

The Rare group aims to tackle these challenges with technologies and services geared towards the maintenance, operation and 
rehabilitation of existing infrastructure. The company currently has a long-term contract with the Department of Water Affairs for the maintenance of dams in the three northern provinces.

The Rare group also carries out pipeline rehabilitation using various trenchless technologies. Balutto notes that one of its most popular technologies is its Swagelining, which enables the renewal of aged pipelines through the lining of the pipe with a tight-fit high-density polyethylene liner that can be applied up to 1 km at a time.

The technology has been applied on projects in Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia and is currently being considered for two multimillion-rand slurry 
and water pipeline network projects in South Africa. 
The cost of this rehabilitation technique is 40% to 50% less than the replacement cost of the pipeline and implementation time is up to one-third less than installing a new pipe-
line.

Further, Rare group’s subsidiary, Xylopipe, has introduced two new trenchless pipeline technologies. The first is a cured-in-place pipeline technology that enables the rehabilitation of large-diameter water pipelines through the insertion of a pipelining with a resin-impregnated felt backing. This pipeline adheres to the existing pipe and is cured through the use of either steam or hot water. The technology effectively lines the pipe and can increase the life span of a deteriorated pipeline by 30 years to 50 years at low cost.

Xylopipe is also the licence holder of the Aqualiner technology for sub-Saharan Africa. 
This is a pipeline rehabilitation tech-
nology that draws a polypropylene-impregnated, glass-fibre lining through an existing pipeline. 
The lining is then heated with a special heating pig that melts the polypropylene and forms a strong pipe that is fully structural and can, therefore, take both the internal and 
external forces. 
Balutto explains that the installation of the Aqualiner is more cost effective than pipe 
replacement.

He adds that international norms suggest that about 3% of the replacement value of a pipe should, on average, be spent yearly on the maintenance and rehabilitation of pipelines, but most municipalities budget less than half of this.