Veolia awarded contract for new pump station in Johannesburg’s East Rand

Veolia Water Technologies South Africa has been awarded the contract to design, manufacture, supply, deliver, install, commission and put into service a new pump station in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni. The pump station, which will become ‘Engine Room 3’ at the Boksburg plant once complete, will supplement the existing pumping station’s water capacity by approximately 600 ML/day, increasing the plant’s daily capacity to 1 100 ML.

Awarded the contract via tender, work on the project commenced on 7 January 2019 with the design phase expected to begin and complete in the first half of 2019. The scope of work includes all mechanical and electrical equipment and parts, including design, procurement, installation and commissioning. Minor civil works outside the main pump station building also form part of Veolia’s project responsibilities and include concrete valve chambers and underground pipework for the cross connection pipeline, the fire water pipe network and the domestic service water system. The manufacturing and procurement phase, expected to take 17 months, is scheduled to begin in June 2019 and run to November 2020.

Installation will begin in February 2021 and completion by October that year. Commissioning and operation will follow with project conclusion, expected by early January 2022.. “We will be importing specialised instrumentation and electrical equipment from Germany and the USA,” says Chris Braybrooke, General Manager: Marketing, Veolia Water Technologies. “This equipment pertains to specific brands not manufactured in South Africa, although they will all be sourced via local companies.”

He adds that the MV motors, pipes, valves, electrical and telecom cables will be locally produced, and will meet the stipulated minimum threshold for local production content. All civil requirements will be subcontracted to a third party, as will various other activities, to ensure that Veolia complies with the South African government’s Preferential Procurement Regulations 2017. Veolia will provide the pump station’s personnel with training during the trial and operation period, expected to be four weeks, and will include operation, maintenance and asset management instruction.

“We were among several companies that tendered for this project,” says Braybrooke in conclusion. “The fact that we have completed large pump station projects in southern Africa and that we have the necessary references, skills and knowledge gained from experience, contributed to us being awarded the contract.” Water for this pump station will be drawn from the Vaal River System, subsequent to treatment at Zuikerbosch Treatment Works.

Veolia group is the global leader in optimized resource management. With nearly 169 000 employees worldwide, the Group designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions which contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries.

Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, preserve available resources, and to replenish them. In 2017, the Veolia group supplied 96 million people with drinking water and 62 million people with wastewater service, produced nearly 55 million megawatt hours of energy and converted 47 million metric tons of waste into new materials and energy. Veolia Environnement (listed on Paris Euronext: VIE) recorded consolidated revenue of €25.12 billion in 2017. www.veolia.com