Against a backlog requirement of 180,000 toilets, the Amathole District Municipality issued a tender for concrete panel toilets to be manufactured and installed in a very poor and rural part of the Eastern Cape, Amathole. Rocla Sanitation won the first phase of the tender and has currently delivered to site 17,500 of the 25,000 toilets required by June 2014.
With an average concrete panel weighing 102.5 kg, and a complete toilet weight of 705 kgs, this entire project will have approximately 17,875 tons of concrete panelled toilets available for residents making it the largest single project Rocla Sanitation has been involved in.
Simon Wells, Business Manager: Sanitation at Rocla said “The project started in March 2011, and in order to offer some local opportunities for employment–some 70% of the 200 locally employed are women – we opened a dedicated factory in Butterworth and utilised local resources. This factory will
remain operational until the project is completed next year. We also provided on-site training”.
“Amathole is quite a mountainous area making deliveries in bakkies at times treacherous, yet at times innovative, through the usage of donkeys to carry the concrete panels to site. The concrete panels, which are light and easy to handle, have been manufactured from a newly patented concrete technology, with all components having hand grips, enabling top structures to be erected in 15 minutes. The community, we believe, are happy with the aesthetics of the toilet structures. A second tender is currently in the adjudication phase, and we are extremely optimistic of our ability to be successful with this second phase” said Wells.
The Rocla Sanitation concrete toilets can also be relocated by households and are deemed the most suited for the Expanded Public Works Programme. The reality of the concrete panels design is that there are only six panels that make up the complete structure which is a huge plus for the quality and longevity of the product; they offer a relatively large interior (900mm wide x 1100 mm deep x 2000 mm high , conforming to all relevant standards and offer the safety of a dual opening locking system (ie they can be opened from the inside while locked from the outside).
From manufacture to installation – depending on logistics and other contractor timescales – it takes 10 days including curing time for the concrete. This is a huge step forward for the community who in the past had no access to clean water or hygienic sanitation. The project is being funded under the Municipal Infrastructure Grant Programme.
