Housing in Southern Africa February 2016

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Energy Efficiency, Green building & IBTs
However, the construction of
any power station comes
with environmental implica-
tions, which can only be neutralised
through geosynthetics.
To this end, construction and en-
gineering group GAST was awarded
the contract to manage the geosyn-
thetic requirements of the Kusile
Power Station. The contract was
awarded through WBHO, based on
GAST’s record of 11 500 successfully
completed projects and its accredita-
tion from the United Nations and the
World Bank.
The Kusile Geosynthetics project,
which is entering its closing stages,
has been seen as one of the largest
andmost complex geosynthetic proj-
ects in the SouthernHemisphere. This
is owing to the volumes and intrica-
cies of providing an environmentally
friendly geosynthetic solution and
secure platform for Kusile Ash and
Coal over the 6 ha site.
GAST Group CEO, Kevin Gast ex-
plains that, “Geosynthetics has
become the standard solution in
relation to environmental protection
in the past ten years in South Africa,
taking guidance from International
Standards and the hard work of or-
ganisations like the Geosynthetics In-
terest Group of South Africa (GIGSA).
GAST, as one of a handful of entities
specialising in this field, is proud to
have been involved with such a sig-
nificant project.
Over the past four years, GAST has
supplied and installed a significant
number of advanced geosynthet-
ic solutions to help minimise the
Kusile nears completion
environmental impact of the power
station. Geomembranes, geotextiles
and various drainage layers were
required to help create a barrier be-
tween the environment and Kusile’s
multiple ash dumps and dirty dams.
GAST employed over 50 com-
munity members during this project
thus transferring skills in a special-
ised field. As new legislation calls for
geosynthetics inmost environmental
protection systems, the Kusile Ash
Dumps have provided amuchneeded
springboard for future job creation.
“Kusile was a complicated project
froma technical perspective and from
a commercial perspective. We are
looking forward to handing over the
keys to Eskom on this R180 million
project in due course” says Gast. ■
KusilePower Station isunder pressure tobeoperational by2018 inorder
tostart contributingmuch-neededpower to theSouthAfricaneconomy.