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MDT is based in the Eastern Cape with branches in Port
Elizabeth, East London, Kokstad and lately Umtata.
“The Kwazulu Natal region is still in the process of
finalising their amalgamation, but once this is
complete, the company will be well represented
nationally, ” says Linda.
Nama explains the company’s aim. “Our vision is not
only to include Cape Town in our expansion plans, but
also to grow the business into Southern Africa. We
would like to concentrate on the SADC area first and
then expand beyond this,” he explains.
His pride in the company is clearly evident. “MDT is a
young and dynamic company that draws on the success of
each individual person. There is a high level of
expertise in the company’s black partners and
directors, and it is rare when PDI’s who are
shareholders as well, share such an advanced level of
technical expertise,” says Nama.
Township Developments
MDT is one of 12 consulting engineers that
participated in the relocation of 15 000 families
where they have settled below the floodline in the
Motherwell area.
“Our work in this project involves sewage and services
for 1 000 erven and this keeps us very busy with
township roads, sewer and water work developments,”
says Linda adding that township services forms a large
part of the company’s bread and butter projects.
The 12 individual consultants are presently working
with the preliminary designs within strict time frames
so that the project can be completed by August 2004.
In another project, Linda is involved in the redesign
of rudimentary road and services in the Kleinskool
Township. “The project is an in-situ upgrade, with the
road network to be constructed to sub-base level. A
major challenge was that we had to connect to an
existing 1050mm diameter sewer pipe and the gradient
of the pipe meant that some of the erven had to be
repositioned. I used Civil Designer software for the
first time during this project,” he says.
“My experience with the program was good as I found
that it was not difficult to operate. It performed
functions quickly and saved me time, allowing me to
complete tasks within specified deadlines”.
“The project itself proved quite difficult, in that
the construction dictated the design. We found that
the existing 1050mm diameter pipes were positioned
clumsily and there were a number of instances where we
had to go back to the town planners in order to advise
them that certain areas could not be sewered to meet
the design criteria of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
Municipality. The Municipality has one of the highest
standards when it comes to the design of sewers,” he
explains.
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LINDA NAMA
Born in Ciskei, Linda studied at PE Technikon
before working for a number of companies in the
area. As office manager and associate at MDT his
life is “quite hectic” especially with two
daughters aged two and eight.
“I am always seeking challenges,” says Linda as he
comments on his present position with MDT. “This
time I may have bitten off a bit more than I can
chew, but I will tame this animal,” he says
laughing.
Contemplating his choice of career, he says he
liked the idea of being based at an office but at
the same time have the scope to engage in site
work as well. “At first I did not know what it
meant to be a civil engineer and I therefore read
up about it. Even then, I did not really know what
I was getting myself into – today I find that I
truly enjoy the profession,” says Linda.
In his spare time, Linda enjoys spending time with
his family, traveling, going out with friends and
visiting his rural village of Mbewuleni in the
former Transkei. |
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The site was yet another factor to contend with. “We
had to consider a number of different scenarios for
filling due to the fact that the area was low lying.
This meant that the total number of erven had to be
reduced from 550 to 360. It was not a big development,
but the problems and challenges made it a very
intensive project to work on,” says Linda.
Coega benefits Eastern Cape
With the current Coega development, there is a lot of
activity in Port Elizabeth. “Things have been
mushrooming up for some time now and there are very
few engineers in town who have not got a piece of the
cake”.
MDT was involved in the structural and civil works of
the Coega Recruitment Centre - a small part of the
Coega Project. “We used AllyCAD to design the
recruitment centre and this presently represents our
total involvement in the Coega development.”
Developing people
Linda has definite plans for the training and
development of MDT’s staff. “My main vision is to
train people as much as we can. The days of recruiting
fully trained ready-to-use people are gone and we are
now trying to build a team from young graduates by
sending them on a series of training courses to
empower them,” says Linda, adding that most of their
recruits are sourced from technikons in the area.
For the most part, training is on an ad-hoc basis, but
Linda foresees that once the amalgamation is complete,
they will be able to look at the whole picture and
structure training more comprehensively. “We have
plans to create training manuals and to arrange
tuition in such a way that it can be rotated on an
ongoing basis.”
Linda’s vision on the company is one of continual
growth and expansion, and judging from the dedicated
staff at MDT, one would have to agree that the company
and its people are definitely going places. |
