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Developments in Uniondale
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Ralph Waldo Emerson must have
had André Delport in mind when he said, “nothing
great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” André’s
many accomplishments at Vela VKE Engineers in
Mosselbay have certainly been great and he has
greeted each new challenge with never-ending
enthusiasm. One of these accomplishments includes
the upgrade of various main roads in the rural town
of Uniondale, a project that Andre recalls helped
improve the living conditions of many.
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“I enjoyed working on this
assignment because it helped to transform Uniondale in
a big way and today the town is completely different
to the way it was a few months ago. The project was
identified by Eden District Municipality and involved
uplifting the low-income area of Lyonville. This
entailed the upgrade of Berkley Street as well as a
section of Long Street,” explains André, proudly
displaying the impressive array of project designs.
“We upgraded the road from a gravel surface to a
cement block-paving road in order to improve the
access to and from the Lyonville residential area in
Uniondale. But the most interesting part of this
project remains the labour intensive construction
methods. With these methods we managed to secure jobs for
about 44 local residents who have also been empowered
with a skill that will equip them to become pavers and
kerb layers.”
According to André, the varied scope of the assignment
was challenging to say the least. “The project
required 6600m² of paved road and 1,9km of kerbing. In
addition, the construction required approximately 333
000 of concrete paving blocks and approximately 100
metres of storm water pipes. As the senior technician
on this multi-disciplinary project, one of the
challenges was to conform to strict requirements while
still having to complete the project within tight
deadlines.”
“The project required the excavation of road material,
the compaction of the insitu layer, the construction
of the new road base layer and the construction of
sidewalks. In addition to this, we established a dust
free road surface by means of concrete paving and
provided for the building of culverts, storm water
inlets and head walls. The great thing about projects
of this nature is that you can rely on a program like
Civil Designer to help you out. It has everything that
you need in one package and best of all, after only
one training session I was able to complete this high
level project within the required deadline,” says
André smiling.
When asked what the highlight of the project was, the
reply is instant. “It would definitely be the job
creation initiative which worked extremely well. Many
workers received a certificate of competency based on
their level of expertise on the project. The workers
were managed by skilled professionals in designated
clusters and many of them were able to source
employment because the venture had resulted in a
skills transfer.”
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“Workers were selected from the community based on a
list of criteria and it was the responsibility of the
area ward councillors to maintain the database of
unemployed workers from previously disadvantaged
backgrounds. These people were then chosen to work on
a two weekly rotational basis. We found that the
community was particularly supportive during this
phase because they understood that the road upgrade
would lead to job creation and improve the living
conditions of residents,” explains André.
André has worked on many wonderful projects over the
last eight years and his enthusiasm and passion
remains unwavering. “What I like most about my job, is
being able to give something back to the community and
seeing development and progress boom around me. It is
what keeps me going and drives me to tackle challenge
after challenge,” he says, the characteristic grin on
his face a clear indication of his positive outlook in
life. |
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Last Updated:
February 09, 2006
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