The Civil Engineering Contractor February 2018 | Page 19

ON SITE
The pipeline stretches across the wetland, waiting to be back-filled and rehabilitated.
Drainage contract
interesting facts
and the underground material in
the area.
In terms of environmental procedures
and requirements, Esor opted to cross
the wetland by means of piling. This
allows minimal damage, as the area is
of high ecological importance owing
to the different fauna/flora, which has
conservational importance.
Work on the wetland commenced in
May 2017 with the wetland crossing
at Area 23.  
The scope of works of Esor, with
civils subcontractor Khanyisa Civils and
earthworks plant supplier Masemanzi
Mining, was to strip the vegetation,
excavate the material, and stockpile the
material for later rehabilitation. Esor
needed to construct a dump rock platform
to access the area and afford stability. Once
completed, Esor will install stormwater
drainage and lay biddum over the rock area
to ensure the wetland is not contaminated
with G5 material. Once the platform was
created, piling subcontractor Makarios’s
piling crew began the 45, 10.5m-deep
piling operations, which allowed Esor to
work concurrently with the piling crews
to install the structural steel elements
— supplied by KTM Engineering —
and lay and flange together the 500mm
steel pipeline.
The biggest challenge of the operation
was the tight schedule of five months
within which to complete the
construction works before completing
the rehabilitation of the wetland, and
avoid the rainy season.
The rehabilitation involved the full
removal of the dump rock and G5
platform, the removal of temporary works
protecting the wetland, and replacing
the carefully removed and stockpiled topsoil. 
The entire project is presently about
85% completed, Keevy says and points
out that Esor’s project programme is
almost finished, presently standing at
90% completion, with due completion
date set at March/April 2018, with
only piping to be completed.
The operational life of the power
station is expected to be 60 years. The
total estimated cabling to be installed
for Kusile is 5 300km. nn
Main contractor: Esor
Construction
Full value of Esor work at
Kusile: R2.8-billion 
Main civil engineering works:
Kusile Civil Works joint venture
(KCW JV)
Pipe supplier: Sebetsa Trading
(HDPE)
Length of pipe laid: 50km
Concrete cabling trench: 11km
Backfill: 250 000m 3
Volume of earth moved:
Approx. 400 000m 3
Length of V-drain: 3.5km
Dam-lining supplier: Aquatan 
Size of dams: 35 000m 3 per dam
Number of people on site at
peak time (Esor): Approx. 1 200
Number of people on site at
peak time (KCW): 6 000
CEC February 2018 - 17