City Honours Managers for Excellence

Seven project managers at the City of Cape Town have received special awards for their exceptional service delivery in implementing water, electricity and waste management projects in the Cape Metropole.

The recipients are Rodney Bishop, Daniel Heynike and Anic Smit of Water Services, Edgar Capes, Brian Leetch and Willem Janse van Rensburg of Electricity Services, and Colin Hall of Solid Waste Management.

"While most municipalities struggle to implement capital projects due to capacity problems, Cape Town's City Administration is very fortunate to have a team of highly proficient project managers," says Cllr Lionel Roelf, Mayoral Committee Member for Trading Services.

"The delivery of capital projects and infrastructure development is directly linked to the quality of life and economic sustainability of the residents and ratepayers of the City of Cape Town," Cllr Lionel Roelf added.

Of the City's four major line directorates tasked with direct service delivery to communities, the Directorate of Utility Services, achieved the best capital spend of 93% for the 2005/6 performance cycle. This Directorate encompasses Water Services, Electricity Services and Solid Waste Services.

"The outstanding capital project performance of the Directorate is the culmination of the groundwork done over the past three years. Clearly, focused attention on service delivery by the leadership of the Directorate has borne results. Furthermore, it is pleasing to note that this has been achieved against a continuously increasing capital budget provision over the same period" says Dr Bulumko Msengana, Executive Director of Utility Services.

"All these achievements are further proof that Cape Town has some of the best project leaders in the country," he added.

The largest Water Services project was the construction of a new bulk sewer system for the N2 Gateway housing project at a cost of R195 million.

"With plans for 22 000 housing units at N2 Gateway, the existing facility was totally inadequate and a new bulk sewer for water borne sanitation was urgently needed. The new system, which covers a distance of 16km from Hindle Road to Kuils River and the Zandvliet Waste Water Treatment Works, will provide residents with a safe sewerage and sanitation service," says Anic Smit of Water Services.

Another major project led by Smit's team is the ultra-modern waste water treated effluent plant at Potsdam in Milnerton. The R19 million facility is expected to generate an additional 38 million litres (mega litres) of non-potable water per day for the Blaauwberg area.

At a cost of R40 million, Smit also supervised the upgrading and replacement of pump stations as well as hundreds of kilometers of pipelines that were nearing the end of their serviceable life.

Electricity projects which were implemented during the past year include reinforcements to the Koeberg Road switching station, the replacement of the Clovelly gas cable, and the replacement of transformers at the City's main substation.

"At a cost of R20 million, we reinforced the supply of electricity to the Koeberg Road station which services the Paarden Eiland, Maitland, Observatory, Pinelands, Mowbray, Rosebank and Rondebosch areas," says Edgar Capes of Electricity Services.

"To reinforce the South Peninsula energy network, the City replaced the two aging 66 kV underground cables between Muizenberg and Clovelly stations at a cost of R16,2 million. At the City's main substation, which feeds the Cape Town Central Business District, we replaced 25 MVA transformers which were over 50 years old with three new 40 MVA units at a cost of R10,6 million," says Mr Capes.

Two leading solid waste disposal projects supervised by Colin Hall include extensive upgrading of the Vissershok Landfill Site, as well as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Regional Landfill Site to handle the City's waste for the next 30 years.

"The R26 million Vissershok Landfill Site facility contract will provide disposal capacity for about two years of waste. Some 350 000 cubic meters of clay was excavated in order to construct the lined waste disposal facility. The clay was utilized to cap the 12ha closed portion of the site which will also be rehabilitated with appropriate vegetation. A network of drains has been installed in the clay cap to manage landfill gases such as methane and carbon dioxide generated in the waste pile.

"The EIA for the Regional Landfill Site is one of the largest ever undertaken in the Western Cape, and involves 13 specialist studies. Full EIAs were needed for both preferred sites - south of Atlantis and Kalbaskraal - which will occupy 600 ha in order to provide for up to 90 million cubic meters of airspace," says Mr Hall.

At the Directorate of Electricity Services, Willem Janse van Rensburg led a project team to analyse the management and maintenance of its vehicles. After extensive studies, the team proposed that the vehicle replacement cycle of 33 years be reduced to ten years, and that the capital budget of R1,7 million be increased by R8,3 million. Their three year fleet capital investment plan resulted in the replacement of 65 vehicles in the first year.

To maintain a healthy potable water supply to residents in Goodwood and Bishop Lavis, Daniel Heynike and his project team supervised the upgrading of infrastructure in these areas at a total cost of R5,8 million. This included the replacement and relocation of water pipes and sewers to prevent water interruptions, water theft and low meter reading due to access restrictions.

Rodney Bishop of Water Services supervised the construction of a two storey administration building for the Witzands Water Treatment Plant in Atlantis at a cost of R2,1 million. For the past nine years the staff were housed in converted containers. His project team also replaced a septic tank which was being used to dispose of domestic sewage effluent, with a mini sewage treatment plant at a cost of R1,5 million.

The team also effected major repairs to the Glen Garry Reservoir in Vredekloof, which supplies water to the Tygerberg area, after a sinkhole developed in the embankment of the 150 thousand cubic metre reservoir, due to rainwater intrusion.

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Lisle Brown
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Directorate: Communication and Marketing
City of Cape Town
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Media queries:
David Paulse
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City of Cape Town
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