Water
Incledon capitalises
on growth
In water
infrastructure market
Vlakfontein canal rehabilitation project is an example of the burgeoning water
market in South Africa
A
plethora of large-bore water distribution
tenders in the market at present is good
news for leading fluid conveyance and
solutions provider Incledon.
“The water infrastructure market is definitely growing,” Phillip
Bawden, national product manager for plastics at Incledon,
comments. In terms of growth opportunities, the focus is firmly
on bulk water pipelines.
“The government is investing heavily in infrastructure. While
we do not foresee much by way of maintenance-type work
absorbing significant quantities of materials, one has to take
into consideration the natural expansion of reticulation-type
networks,” Bawden notes.
“This means that our growth will come from any expansions of
existing townships, or building new areas. While we are a fairly
young country, unlike Europe, even our current infrastructure is
starting to fall into disrepair. Asbestos cement pipe laid 40 years
ago is starting to fail, for example. This has meant large-scale
rehabilitation work in major cities like Cape Town and Durban,”
Bawden elaborates.
The fact that large metropolitan areas are having to rehabilitate
their reticulation networks has resulted in a trend for far less
disruptive pipe-laying technologies. The current emphasis is
trenchless technologies, which involves pulling a new pipe into
an existing one.
“That technology is very advanced at the moment, with the
majority of the pipe being HDPE, because it is such a hardy
product. In addition, the necessary connections are quite
easy, while it is a relatively simple system to put together,
especially using Plasson ElectroFusion fittings, for example,”
Bawden highlights.
In terms of growth elsewhere on the continent, Bawden notes
that Incledon is capable of piggybacking on the Dawn Africa
Trading distribution network. “There is major potential in mining
countries such as Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo and Zambia, for example, which have a relatively small
manufacturing and distribution base, and therefore need to
import much of their infrastructure products,” he concludes.
SABI | JUNE/JULY 2016
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