ROADS | PANEL DISCUSSION
Anton Barnard Managing Director Afrimat Southern Cluster
Consistently delivering What is Afrimat’s take on the road construction market? AB We are encouraged by signs of renewed movement in the roads sector following almost two years of limited activity. Contracts out to tender and awarded by Sanral have increased and we expect more to follow. Leading metros and municipalities also remain good providers of infrastructure work. For example, the Overberg Municipality is upgrading roads in the Pringle Bay district. We also see good activity in the private investment sectors, where industrial warehousing parks provide us with good aggregate and readymix work. These kinds of developments are good signs of confidence in the current economy. Examples include industrial property developers like Redefine, who are developing massive warehouses. Their projects include Brackengate Industrial Park in Cape Town – home to warehouses like Massmart, Shoprite DC and Plumblink. In addition, the high-density residential market is buoyant, especially in Cape Town, where our head office is based. We are experiencing sustained demand for road aggregates and readymix for internal roads and stormwater services , as well as building structures. The decision to proceed with sustainable energy projects, recently announced by the president in his SONA 2020, is a positive announcement for Afrimat. We see this as a great contributing factor for work for multiple Afrimat divisions. Concor just finished one of the Perdekraal windfarms, plus the Excelsior Windfarm near Swellendam, where Afrimat was involved. Is readymix a growth sector? Naturally, this is dependent on sustained public and private investment. Within the Cape region, for example, the planned runway and terminal upgrades at Cape Town International Airport are certain to act as a catalyst for the development of industrial parks. These will be interconnected with upgraded roads feeding main arterials. They will also, in turn, spur demand for housing. Commercial expansion on Cape Town’s Foreshore, bordering the V&A Waterfront and
harbour, is another good example of positive trajectory. As with any business, it is about margin management and ensuring we deliver the goods as promised to our customers. As a group, we operate several licensed quarries that supply road aggregates to the external market and internally produce concrete aggregates for our vertically integrated Readymix Division. All our operations comply with South African mining, environmental and health and safety regulations. We have been monitoring cement imports for a number of years; these are a definite contributor to eroding margins. We cannot blame import quality, as we have not seen any claims due to quality issues with imported cement in the industry as yet. However, we are not prepared to gamble with import quality, as we are dependent on a consistent quality cement to help improve our readymix quality performance so that we can reduce raw material costs. How do your drill and blast services benefit the roads sector? Our expertise extends across the value chain, encompassing drilling and blasting, load and haul, crushing and screening, and aggregate transport for opencast mining. Alongside this, Afrimat has a contract mobile crushing, screening, and drilling fleet, which can be deployed just about anywhere. A recent example was a drilling, blasting, crushing and screening service we provided for a windfarm project in Cookhouse, Eastern Cape. Road, solar and wind energy projects in remote areas far from commercial quarries present good opportunities for Afrimat’s contracting services. We also have the capability to set up a mobile readymix batch plant, depending on the project scope. We will only establish our equipment on sites where projects have been issued with mining rights or permits. The contractor must provide proof of this. Sadly, we still see evidence of illegal mining taking place, a lower-scale example being that of a farmer selling sand to a road contractor. As a member of Aspasa (the Aggregate and Sand Producers Association of Southern Africa), we support its mandate of ensuring that everyone conforms to the same standards.
Within Afrimat, we have a dedicated Sustainability Department that ensures absolute compliance with legislation. How do you see the balance of 2020 unfolding? The impact of Covid-19 has been unexpected and swift, but we have all responded well as a nation. As a company, we have taken this seriously and we will ensure that we play our role to fight this together as a team. Our staff are well informed and we communicate with them on a frequent basis during this period. Following the end of the national lockdown, we are well positioned and ready to meet contractor demand thanks to our geographical footprint and our ability to execute. However, our people are our best asset. IMIESA April 2020
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