Construction World May 2016

PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS

PAVING THE WAY in the DRC A Comar continuous mix asphalt plant was recently deployed on a road construction

outlying areas with limited road and other transport infrastructure. Basson adds that on this road construction site, the customer has decided to forego the company’s automated central control system and rather opted for its manual operation function. “The design philosophy incorporated into these plants has been focussed on ensuring optimal equipment reliability and ease of maintenance as this is the primary requirement when operating in extremely remote locations throughout Africa,” he adds. Representatives of Comar Plant Design & Manufacturing spent some time on site training local operators of the plant. “One of our strong selling points is that Comar plants are very easy to operate and are extremely safe,” he says, adding that their bag-house filters also make them environmentally friendly. Technical back-up service will be provided from the company’s premises in Gauteng as and when required, considering that these plants are robust and can be easily maintained on site. “Our philosophy has always been to design our plants to be as rugged as possible. Not only does this enhance their performance on site, but they need to be able to withstand some of the challenges of transporting them on limited road infrastructure,” says Basson. He informs that growing interest in the company’s technology in the DRC has justified the opening of a dedicated office in the coun- try’s capital, Kinshasa. It is headed up by director, Mekebawa Michel Lumbala. “This customer is very impressed with

project in North Kivu Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo where it is producing asphalt.

The plant, which has a capacity of between 40 t and 60 t, was delivered to the provincial government by South African asphalt plant specialist, Comar Plant Design & Manufacturing late last year. Ken Basson, director of plant and engineering at B&E International, says that after being transported to site the plant was established and operational in minimal time. He explains that the modular nature of the plant and its self- erecting design philosophy facilitated the rapid set-up time as there was no need for heavy equipment such as cranes, or any major preparatory civil works. This is a major advantage when operating in >

the performance of our plant, which has exceeded its nameplate capacity, and has therefore expressed a keen interest in buying more for future road surfacing projects currently in its pipeline,” he says. Basson notes that because the plants are manufactured in South Africa, Comar Plant Design & Manufacturing has a significant competitive edge on road construction projects on the continent. Based on its proximity to markets in Africa, the company has secured orders in Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Clearly, B&E International and Comar Plant Design & Manufacturing have a solution to help African governments accelerate their large infrastructure delivery programmes, which include kilometres of greenfields and brownfields road projects.

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Delegates from the DRC visited South Africa to view the Comar plant during construction.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD MAY 2016