Fibre-optic sensors manufacturer and supplier Augusta Industries announced that the Trans Africa Pipeline (TAP) group entered into a memorandum of understanding with the government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania last month.

Augusta, through it’s wholly owned subsidiaries industrial supply contractor service Marcon International and project management company Fox-Tek, intends to submit a proposal to TAP based on the specifications provided by the contractor and will collaborate with the project design company with respect to the monitoring of the pipeline.

TAP and the Mauritania government have agreed to work together to construct a freshwater pipeline, associated solar power plants and seawater desalination facilities to move potable water from the coast of Mauritania into the Sahel region for distribution to communities and for use in agricultural projects.

In continuance of the project, TAP has appointed a contractor which will be issuing requests for proposals (RFP), including a RFP for the monitoring of the freshwater pipeline.

Fox-Tek Canada will be providing TAP with nonintrusive sensing equipment which will verify the integrity of the pipeline composite at key locations. In addition to the nonintrusive sensing equipment, the company will provide a number of optical-based sensing technologies which would allow TAP to monitor the right of way zones from possible third-party intrusions.

“Fox-Tek is very excited that the project is moving forward and a memorandum of understanding has been entered into with the Mauritania government. Fox-Tek is honoured to have been invited to submit a proposal to provide a solution for TAP’s first phase of the project. The corporation is looking forward to partnering with TAP and being able to provide it with the technologies and solutions that will enable it to succeed with the project,” says Augusta president Allen Lone.

TAP is a Canada-based nonprofit organisation dedicated to the long-term eradication of drought in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. This will be achieved through the construction of a continuous fresh-water pipeline to run across the entire continent, supplied by concentrated solar-powered desalination plants located on each coast.

In addition to distributing clean water to communities across the Sahel in perpetuity, TAP will also provide vital energy resources, reduce desertification and the impact of climate change, spur significant local employment and engender the emergence of a substantial, self-sustaining agricultural base throughout the region.

Positioned as the largest humanitarian civil engineering project ever conceived, TAP was founded by University of Toronto professor emeritus and aerospace engineer Dr Roderick C Tennyson and TAP director of communications and journalist Daphne Lavers, who, together lead an international team of project partners, analysts and advisers.

Marcon and Fox-Tek provide a variety of services and products to a number of clients.

Marcon is servicing the energy sector and a number of US government entities. Marcon’s principal business is the sale and distribution of industrial parts and equipment such as electrical, mechanical and instrumentation.

In addition to departments and agencies of the US government, Marcon’s major clients include manufacturing company Saudi Arabia-Sabic Services, gas company Bahrain National Gas Co, petroleum company Bahrain Petroleum, petroleum company Qatar Petroleum, gas company Qatar Gas, petroleum products company Qatar Petrochemical, petroleum company Gulf of Suez Petroleum, petroleum company Agiba Petroleum and gas company Burullus.

Fox-Tek develops nonintrusive asset health monitoring sensor systems for the oil and gas market to help operators track the thinning of pipelines and refinery vessels owing to corrosion/erosion, strain as a result of bending/buckling and process pressure and temperature.

Augusta’s FT fibre-optic sensor and corrosion monitoring systems allow cost-effective, 24/7 remote monitoring capabilities to improve scheduled maintenance operations, avoid unnecessary shutdowns, and prevent accidents and leaks.