Consulting engineering firm GIBB is on track to deliver sewerage services to 12 700 indigent residents of the Sicelo informal settlement and 10 000 future low-cost houses in the Sedi-beng district of Gauteng by 2017, says GIBB professional engineer and project leader Carel Davids.

Historically, the sewers and pumpstations have overflowed and the existing sewers are nearing capacity.

To alleviate this situation, GIBB has been con- tracted by the Midvaal local municipality to increase the pumping capacity at the Rothdene pump-station, install flow meters, duplicate the 500-mm-diameter pipe rising main to the Meyerton wastewater treatment works, provide new sewers for drainage from new areas to the west of the R59 highway and investigate localised areas where there are frequent block- ages.

GIBB will design and oversee the construction of a 10 M∙ reservoir with a new Rand Water con- nection and a 700 m access road to the reser-voir, as well as bulk and supply pipelines of about 9.9 km with diameters ranging from 250 mm to 700 mm, including associated valves and controls.

The project is expected to cost R75-million, with R9-million allocated to the first phase, which will be completed in November.

Pipeline construction for GIBB’s Mamello project is also under way and is expected to be completed by February 2015.

Davids tells Engineering News that, owing to service inequality in the Vaal Marina, or Mamello, area, a large number of people do not have access to adequate water, with little or no sanitation.

GIBB was contracted by the Midvaal local municipality to undertake the R11.6-million project and provide a 135 k∙ concrete water tower, which wlil be funded by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.

The lily-shaped water tower aims to alleviate the low water pressures that exist in the areas in which the low-cost housing development is situated. GIBB has also been contracted to install pumps and ancillary pipeworks to supply the tower.