Company sees 2013 as one of most successful years

15th February 2013

  

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The South African industry is ramping up again after the global economic crisis and civil engineering construc-tion service provider Esorfranki Civils states that it has weatherd the economic downturn without any serious side effects and is confident that 2013 will be one of the company’s most successful years to date.


“Although we’re not one of the largest civil engineering and construction companies, we’re also by no means the smallest. “We regard our people as our greatest asset and will continue to establish a culture and value system, which instils ownership among our employees. We believe each person needs to know exactly what is expected and be committed to delivering quality work,” says Esorfranki Civils Mark Rippon, newly appointed MD for 2013.

This year, Esorfranki Civils intends to participate in a range of projects, such as railway expansions, ports and harbours infrastructure and schools expansion projects in Gauteng.

“Safety is our highest priority and we strive to ensure that our safety values become a way of life among our employees at work, on site and after hours,” says Rippon, who notes that as the main contractor on State-owned power utility Eskom’s Kusile coal-fired power station project, in Mpumalanga, the power utility’s second-most advanced new build, Esorfranki Civils was the first contractor to be recognised for achieving one-million lost-time injury-free man hours in August 2012.

Package 26 was awarded to Esorfranki Civils in March 2011, involving the construction of the terrace underground facilities at the Kusile site, comprising some 5 km of in situ concrete tunnels for mechanical and electrical installations.

The package works also includes the installation of 50 000 m of a range of pressure and gravity drain and feed lines throughout the plant. Finalisation of the project is scheduled for December 2014, including modifications to the original scope of work, states Rippon.

He

says, based on its success- ful execution of Package 26 so far, the company secured Package 25 in March 2012, which includes the installation of the general service piping systems linking the bulk supply network to the main power block and plant buildings. This package was awarded after the original contractor failed to deliver work of the required standard.

The scope of work covers all underground service piping and requires the team to remove and replace the substandard work undertaken by the previous contractor. The package includes excavating trenches and instal-lation of both small- and large- diameter piping to carry the various services.

In addition, Esorfranki Civils, in joint venture (JV) with emerging contractor Khulani, was awarded Package 46, the bulk earth-works contract for Kusile, which calls for terraces to be established. Material for the bulk earthworks is being obtained from existing sources around the site and the company, in JV with emerging contractor Masibuyisane Services, tendered for and was awarded the Package 29 crushing work for this material.

Rippon says the original contract calls for the crush-ing of 564 000 m2 to supply the backfilling needs of the company and other con-tractors on site. The JV is subsequently in negotiations with the client to increase this contract to 1.2-million cubic metres of crushing work.

“These two emerging con-tractors were identified as having the potential to become established service providers of quality through the Accel-erated Shared Growth Initi-ative for South Africa and we’re proud to be associated with their upliftment,” Rippon comments.

Providing civil engineering construction services since 1995, Esorfranki Civils focuses specifically on road building, mining and township infra-structure work, water and sewerage reticulation contracts and concrete projects for government, major mining houses and the private sector.

The company successfully leverages its Level 4 broad-based black economic-empow- erment platform to secure tenders for public-sector projects at national govern- ment, provincial government and municipal level. It also boasts the highest possible 9CE grading from the Construction Industry Development Board.

Esorfranki Civils has a comprehensive plant inventory and a business unit that employs more than 1 100 employees, ranging from artisan to management level.

“We’re a lean company with lots of young blood, balanced by the input of several veterans of this industry,” Rippon continues. “We’re a no-nonsense company that believes in getting the job done, taking a programme-driven approach to ensure we deliver projects within budget and on time,” states Rippon.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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