The Sustainable Infrastructure Handbook Vol 1 - Alive2green

The Sustainable Infrastructure Handbook South Africa Volume 1 The Essential Guide

ISBN 978-0-620-63515-8

9

780620 635158

01

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No stopping City of 1

2

Significant progress has been made on A Re Yeng, the City of Tshwane’s bus rapid transit (BRT) project, since its first station was completed in Hatfield.

A Re Yeng is a high-quality, rapid, affordable, safe and convenient public bus service. It forms part of the City’s revitalisation project and 2055 vision of providing world-class roads and infrastructure networks and systems to facilitate seamless mobility of goods and people and promote socio-economic development.

A Re Yeng will comprise of three depots and 51 stations on an 80 km route. The entire route will extend from Kopanong in Soshanguve, via Rainbow Junction and the CBD, to Menlyn (with a branch to Hatfield) ending in Mamelodi. The A Re Yeng system will be completed and become operational in phases. Phase 1 (Kopanong to Mamelodi) should be completed in June 2018.

A Re Yeng inception Phase, Line 2A is about 7 km long.

It runs from the Pretoria CBD (corner of Nana Sita and

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Paul Kruger Streets) eastward to Hatfield via Sunnyside, and connects to the Gautrain Station in Hatfield. The route will have seven stations – two in the CBD, three in Sunnyside, one at Loftus Stadium and one in Hatfield.

Construction of busways on Kotze Street, Jorissen Street and University Road are nearing completion.

Beautification on the sidewalks and medians, such as landscaping, grassing and planting more trees has started to take advantage of spring in line with good horticultural practice.

Construction of Sunnyside Station 1, Sunnyside Station 2, Sunnyside Station 3, Nana Sita Station 1, Nana Sita Station 2 and Loftus Station, which are part of the inception phase, commenced in February 2014.

Completion with a full intelligence transport system (ITS) is anticipated before the system goes into full operation.

The first 30 rigid 12-metre Volvo buses equipped with clean-burning diesel-powered Euro V engines have come off the production line. Cabling looms have been installed on all 30 buses, including antenna cabling for

Tshwane’s A Re Yeng!

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commuter Wi-Fi access. The 48 trainee drivers, who were sourced from taxi operators who would be affected by the inception phase of A Re Yeng, have also completed their training.

Everyone on the A Re Yeng system can feel safe while waiting for a bus at a station, as a security guard will be looking on and the bus and station will be monitored continuously in the Central Control Centre (CCC). The operator of this centre will report any incident to the police immediately.

A Re Yeng is an economic development project with short, medium and long-term impacts and benefits. It will help to reduce congestion on Tshwane’s roads as well as the associated air pollution, and therefore bring about a cleaner city with reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The system and the accessibility it brings will go a long way to physically and socially integrate Tshwane and improve the quality of life of its residents. Reliable public transport will also result in more flexible employment and transport arrangements. By opting to travel in A Re Yeng buses, residents will help create a more liveable city.

1.

Bus operating company Tshwane Rapid Transit (TRT) Executive Chairperson, Motlhabane Abnar Tsebe handing keys of the first completed A Re Yeng bus to City of Tshwane Executive Mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa.

2.

The first completed A Re Yeng bus station.

3.

Construction of busways in Nana Sita Street are substantially complete.

4.

Artist impression of the beautification works on Nana Sita Street.

5. Construction of the memory box station on Nana Sita Street is on-going.

For more information on this project, please contact A Re Yeng: Tel: 012 358 6269 • Twitter: @A_Re_Yeng Facebook: A Re Yeng www.areyenginfocus.co.za/www.tshwane.gov.za

Sustainable Infrastructure Handbook South Africa Volume 1 The Essential Guide EDITOR Llewellyn van Wyk

PROOFREADER Sarah Johnston

CONTRIBUTORS Llewellyn van Wyk, Christina Culwick, Dr Kevin Wall, Kerry Bobbins, Dr Linda Godfrey, Louiza Duncker, Melanie Wilkinson, Stefan Szewczuk, Wim Jonker Klunne

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Edward Macdonald

PEER REVIEWERS Llewellyn van Wyk, Wim Jonker Klunne, Prof. Piet Vosloo, Prof. Andre de Villiers

PROJECT MANAGERS Mena Anyachor, Pitso Trinity Maholela

LAYOUT & DESIGN Nicole Kenny ONLINE MARKETING GSA Campbell MARKETING EXECUTIVE Nabilah Bardien HR ASSISTANT Leslie-Rae Webber CLIENT LIAISON MANAGER Eunice Visagie CLIENT LIAISON OFFICER Lizel Olivier

DIVISIONAL HEAD OF SALES Annie Pieters

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES Florah Nemaorani CHIEF EXECUTIVE Gordon Brown DIRECTORS Gordon Brown Andrew Fehrsen Lloyd Macfarlane EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES LvWyk@csir.co.za PUBLISHER

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The Sustainability Series Of Handbooks

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Sustainability and Integrated REPORTING HANDBOOK South Africa 2014

ISBN No: 978 0 620 45240 3. Volume 1 first published October 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any way or in any form without the prior written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editor. All editorial contributions are accepted on the understanding that the contributor either owns or has obtained all necessary copyrights and permissions.

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The

Sustainability and Integrated REPORTING HANDBOOK South Africa 2014

FOREWORD

T

he fundamentals of the economy have taken root in the South African landscape, with the “greening of infrastructure” being no exception. The “greening of infrastructure” provides, among others, the strategic intent, direction and/or catalyst to: improve integrated planning for green infrastructure; improve and protect water resources and drinking water; strategically evaluate areas for conservation and/or development; increase food security; provide adequate technological advance motorised and non-motorised transport infrastructure; protect cultural and heritage sites; address our understanding of climate change and variability; and design for mitigation measures. In addition, infrastructure development is central to socio-economic development and the role of green infrastructure has come under the spotlight. Some examples include the following: 1.

The greater use of recycled construction materials, e.g. the use of recycled bituminous material for road construction, etc., 2.

CO2 reduction in the production of cement, 3.

Sustainable utilisation of natural resources, e.g. water, soil, etc., 4.

Energy reduction and efficiency in the production of construction materials, and 5.

Renewable energy production and sustainability.

In addition, the policy framework and building of capacity to design and manufacture “green technologies” is central to the “greening of infrastructure”. “Technology transfer” is also important to form a technology partnership to identify and develop technology to avoid the problems of “technology dumping”, ensure continuous innovation and quality, affordability and sustainability. Thus, this will ensure the minimisation of the costs of operation and maintenance and also reduces the costs remedial strategies to regain the functionality of “green infrastructure”. Therefore, three fundamental aspects are central in the “green of infrastructure”, i.e. knowledge, capacity and finance, and they are all inter-linked, inter-connected and dependent on each other.

Sincerely

Dr Cornelius Ruiters Executive Director: Built Environment CSIR

FOREWORD

MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza Member of the Executive Council Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development

O

n behalf of the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development, I am delighted to welcome you to the 2014 edition of the Sustainable Infrastructure Handbook.

This publication is important to us because we are at the coalface of the delivery of all public infrastructure in sectors such as health, education, social development, sports, arts and culture, excluding roads and housing. As such, modern, communitycentred, technologically innovative and financially sustainable systems for infrastructure delivery are always on our ‘most wanted’ list.

Many of our people in the townships are still trapped in poverty, unemployment and inequality and are excluded from the mainstream economy. For this reason, we are determined to revitalise and mainstream the township economy by supporting the development of township enterprises, cooperatives and SMMEs. For example, the new hospital in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, a four-storey facility with 821 beds and six operating theatres, was built with the people. This project boosted the local economy with more than 4 950 job opportunities created, with 281 locals benefiting from technical skills training, 368 acquiring entrepreneurial skills and 10 trained in installing generators and lifts. More than 16 local contractors were engaged in various trades, ranging from celling works, painting, paving and electrical to securing and cleaning.

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

FOREWORD The schools we are building are also state-ofthe-art facilities built along the same principles.

We designed the new smart and green schools in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Education on the basis of the Smart Class Room concept. The learning facilities include specialised laboratories for Science, Geography, Biology, as well as a library. Other supporting facilities include a nutrition centre, which features a kitchen and a canteen.

Concepts around green, sustainable development were utilised when constructing the schools, and local (South African) alternative construction technologies were used. The alternative construction method used is the Robust System: a replacement of brick and mortar using light concrete and light steel reinforcements. It also features a rainharvesting tank, the 6mm grazing for energy, solar-powered geysers and the wall is thermally responsive as these are warm in winter and cooler in summer.

We shed light on the work we do in a quest to find best practices in the delivery of much-needed public infrastructure. We hope you find the following pages informative and exciting.

Sincerely Ms. Nandi Mayathula-Khoza Member of the Executive Council Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development

THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Llewellyn van Wyk Editor

T

here can be little doubt that the delivery, operation and maintenance of infrastructure are among the biggest challenges facing human settlements.

In almost all countries infrastructure investment is less than it should be, and the quality of infrastructure services is deteriorating. For many millions in the world access to water and sanitation remains a far-off dream.

Governments continue to struggle to find the right balance between investment and maintenance, and between reducing backlogs versus new expansion. Most often the capital required is beyond the financial reach of governments, which is one of the reasons that the World Bank, among others, is operating in that domain.

Developing countries are especially challenged in this regard although it impacts on developed countries as well: the United States has seen the condition of its infrastructure deteriorate over the past five years.

Many institutions have examined the problem and have produced “solutions” to assist governments in operating and maintaining their infrastructure with toolkits, management guidelines and strategies almost always appearing in the solutions offered.

There are those, however (myself included), who argue that the problem is systemic, and that a new infrastructure paradigm needs to be created and implemented. This new paradigm, it is suggested, needs to be built on a bottom-up

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

approach rather than the centralised, topdown approach currently being implemented.

The argument is based on the hypothesis that population growth is demanding a continuous upgrading and expansion of infrastructure to keep pace: where infrastructure backlogs exist—such as in South Africa—it is almost impossible to maintain the required rate of expansion. The model that is therefore under consideration is one in which the city is broken down into cells, having a walking distance of roughly 20 minutes—based on early city settlements in Europe and still visible in Paris—and pursuing an agenda aimed at achieving infrastructure independence at that scale. From the cell, a series of networks is installed to move services around as demand and circumstance require.

It is at the cell level that green infrastructure becomes relevant: technologies now exist which can function at a number of scales from the individual plot to the block to the city quarter. At the same time, green infrastructure provides access to nature (a feature increasingly removed from our cityscapes) and contributes to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions due to the nature and scale of the technology.

It is against this background that the introduction of the green infrastructure manual is so critical: the discourse around alternative paradigms for infrastructure delivery needs to commence sooner rather than later, and this manual hopes to make a significant contribution to that narrative.

Sincerely

Llewellyn van Wyk Editor

THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

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We’ve taken care to minimise the impact on the environment.

The Pelican Park development, situated along

government, private investors and commercial

the Zeekoevlei freshwater lake on the Cape

financial institutions. Through financing and

Flats, has proven that integrated housing

grants we could cross-subsidise the project,

projects can be delivered successfully. The

offering higher-specification BNG units and

development promotes a live, work and

public amenities.

play lifestyle, where residents live close to work, have access to leisure activities on the

We’ve also taken care to minimise the impact

adjacent lake and children attend schools

on the environment.

close by.

The Gap and Market houses have dual-flush The Pelican Park development is fully

systems and high-pressure solar geysers; the

integrated, providing housing for all the

BNG houses are solar-geyser ready; and all

different

wholly-

houses are insulated to the new SANS10400Xa

subsidised BNG to Gap, FLISP and Market

standard. Many of the houses are north-

units.

facing, to ensure efficient positioning for solar

income

The

groups,

development

from also

includes

commercial, retail and public sites for schools,

geysers.

a clinic, library, service station and shopping centre.

The urban design includes the use of public transport throughout the development, with

To make the development possible we

a main taxi route and bus stops – encouraging

forged a partnership with local and provincial

residents to use cars less.

For more information on the Pelican Park development or to discover what else we can do, visit www.powergrp.co.za/sustainable or contact us on +27 (0)21 907 1300.

CONTRIBUTORS

LLEWELLYN VAN WYK

Llewellyn van Wyk graduated in 1980 from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He opened his practice in 1984 completing building projects throughout southern Africa. He joined the CSIR in 2002 and is currently a Principal Researcher in the Built Environment Unit.

CHRISTINA CULWICK Christina Culwick is a researcher at GCRO, with a focus on sustainability in the city-region.

Her particular interests lie in urban environment, resilience, environmental governance and transforming the GCR towards sustainability and inclusivity. Christina completed her BSc in Geography and Maths, and went on to do a BScHons and MSc in Geography at Wits University.

DR KEVIN WALL Kevin Wall was until recently a Built Environment Fellow of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), but he is now freelancing as a civil engineer and town planner.

He is a (part-time) Professor at the University of Pretoria, and ministerial representative and Vice-Chairman of the Council of the King Hintsa Further Education and Training College in the Eastern Cape. A past President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), he is also a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering.

KERRY BOBBINS Kerry Bobbins is a researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory. She graduated from Rhodes University with a BSc Honours degree in Integrated Water Management and an MSc in Environmental Water Management. Kerry’s academic interests are positioned between ecological and policy dynamics. In particular, how ecological considerations are factored into political economic decision-making.

DR LINDA GODFREY Dr Linda Godfrey is a Principal Scientist with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) operating unit Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE). Dr Godfrey holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has published extensively in the waste field and provides review to both local and international peerreviewed scientific publications.

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

LOUIZA DUNCKER

CONTRIBUTORS

Louiza Duncker is a principal researcher and an anthropologist at the CSIR Built Environment Unit. Louiza received a Masters degree in Anthropology at the University of Pretoria on the empowerment of women in water supply and sanitation projects in the rural Eastern Cape Province in 2003. Louiza has worked with a number of international development agencies on gender issues, water supply and sanitation, has delivered several papers at national and international conferences and is the author of a number of research reports and publications.

MELANIE WILKINSON Melanie is a development specialist at Sustento Development Services, becoming a partner in the company in 2007. She has research experience in the sustainable use and development of natural resources, water supply and sanitation, monitoring and evaluation, resource impact assessments and review of the impacts and gaps in national water policy.

STEFAN SZEWCZUK Stefan Szewczuk holds a BSc Aeronautical Engineering degree and an MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, and an MBA from the Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. He is a Senior Engineer at the CSIR, working on projects for the World Bank, UNDP, the Global Environment Facility, the European Union, Global Research Alliance and the Regional Research Alliance.

WIM JONKER KLUNNE Wim Jonker Klunne is a renowned energy expert with an academic background in Civil Engineering and Management. His extensive experience in renewable energy projects, from a technical, financial and socio-economic perspective, provides him with a solid background for technical assistance in this field. Currently Wim is working at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa as senior researcher and is involved in a large portfolio of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

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CONTENTS Green(ing) infrastructure Llewellyn van Wyk

24

A social franchising partnership approach to maintenance of green infrastructure Dr Kevin Wall

38

Greening waste management Dr Linda Godfrey

56

Solar electricity for buildings Wim Jonker Klunne

76

76

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

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CONTENTS 110

122 Making the built environment more resilient through environmental design Llewellyn van Wyk

18

88

Smart sustainable energy for rural community development Stefan Szewczuk

110

The application of appropriate technologies and systems for sustainable sanitation Louiza Duncker and Melanie Wilkinson

122

Incorporating green infrastructure into Gauteng city-region planning Kerry Bobbins and Christina Culwick

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

CASE STUDY

SUSTAINABLE, EFFICIENT AND AFFORDABLE WATER The Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) is considered the most important water resource in South Africa. It supplies water to about 60% of the country’s economy. The current demand for water in the IVRS already exceeds the supply capacity (yield) of the system by 435 million kilolitres per annum (mkl/a), or 11% of the system yield. This means that we are already exceeding the ability of the existing water supply system, which leaves no room for growth and development. The continuing trend of 2% per annum growth in abstraction volumes by Rand Water will lead to a capacity deficit of 880 million kl/annum (25% of current yield) in the next 5 years.

The diagram below illustrates the 4 pillars of WDM strategy:

CAPITAL PROGRAMMES

Key strategic objectives Rand water has adopted Water Demand Management (WDM) as one of its key strategies.

The main objective of the strategy is to enhance the management of water services in order to achieve sustainable, efficient and affordable services to Rand Water and all it’s customers.

The four pillars that underpin the Water Demand Management strategy : 1. Extensive Capital Programmes are underway to reduce the losses due to

WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT OTHER PRODUCTS I.E: GREY WATER

SUPPLY RESTRICTIONS

CASE STUDY

2.

3.

4.

the aging infrastructure ( Rand Water infrastructure) Water demand management initiatives that are directed towards assisting our customers to reduce their water consumption through partnerships with various municipalities and other stakeholders Alternative products as a surrogate to potable water needs i.e. Effluent water re- use Enforcement of water restriction should the demand continue to grow

Services Rand Water is committed to servicing the needs of its customers by assisting them with its expertise in the management of water demand and reduction of water losses. Rand water offers the following water demand management services: • High Level and detailed financial and technical assessments • Leakage management • Pressure Management • Network Analysis and Modelling (Hydraulic Modelling) • Water and Sewer Logging and Analysis • Development and drafting of business plans for funding applications • Implementation of WDM interventions • Maintenance and sustainability of interventions post implementation

• Water Wise Education and Awareness Campaigns

The main benefits of effective water demand management 1.

2.

3.

Deferment major future capital infrastructure Savings on operational costs Demand management also improves the effectiveness of wastewater treatment by reducing its volume and increasing detention times, improving discharge quality and reducing the pollution of receiving waters

Challenges Some of the common constraints preventing or restricting the implementation of WDM interventions include: • Planning – current resources planning practices often focuses on supply-side management; • Institutional – lack of proper co-ordination among various role players in the water supply chain during planning process; • Capacity – often limited capacity available to plan and maintain WDM measures; As an effort to comply with Rand Water’s current water abstraction license and assist our customers to curb the high water losses within the municipal infrastructure, the need for effective water demand management cannot be over emphasized

PROFILE

RAND WATER Celebrating 110 years of proving quality water.

Rand Water as state owned organization is bide by Water Services Act 1997 to provide water services which is described as water and sanitation services to other water services institutions (WSI) and authorities within its service area. Other activities of Rand Water according to the Water Services Act may include; providing management services, training and other support services to water services institutions, in order to promote cooperation in the provision of water services; supply untreated or non-potable water to end users who do not use water for household purposes; providing catchment management services to or on behalf of responsible authorities and performing water conservation functions. The primary objective of Rand Water’s Bulk Sanitation Department is to extend sanitation services to water service authorities and institutions within and beyond Rand Water areas of supply. Rand Water`s partnership with municipalities and Department of Water Affairs’ main focus is to address the sanitation challenges such that the environmental assets and natural resources are protected for a long and healthy life for all South Africans.

Bulk Sanitation Mission To deliver on Rand water`s mandate: the provision of bulk sanitation services is to ensure that water and sanitation contributes towards addressing poverty and scarce water resources.

•

•

•

•

compliance to Department of Water Affairs’ (DWA) Green Drop Certification.

Provision of management, operation and maintenance of the wastewater treatment works.

Capacity building and training of process controllers, industrial effluent monitoring programme, refurbishment.

Process upgrade of water and wastewater treatment works, management of the pump stations.

Refurbishment Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) plants and operations and maintenance of the AMD.

Bulk Sanitation’ Mandate • Responsive to the overall national water mandate.

• Responsive to the national bulk sanitation challenges.

• Responsive also to the African sanitation plan declared in 2008.

• Complete the cycle of water services as stipulated by the Water Services act.

• To meet the needs of the people in terms of water provision and to promote sustainable sanitation services.

Challenges and risks facing the Bulk Sanitation

The services provided by Bulk Sanitation include:

• Ageing infrastructure • Current design & capacity of the wastewater treatment plants • Changing institutional arrangements • Industrial pollution

• Assessment of wastewater treatment plants and providing site specific recommendations to municipalities to ensure effluent

For more information visit www.randwater. co.za

GREEN(ING) INFRASTRUCTURE

Llewellyn van Wyk

GREEN(ING) INFRASTRUCTURE

1

T

he development and maintenance of infrastructure is crucial to improving economic growth and quality of life (WEF, 2013). Urban infrastructure typically includes bulk services such as water, sanitation and energy (typically electricity and gas), transport (typically roads, rail and airports), and telecommunications. The focus of this chapter will be on greening bulk services and roads.

Despite the importance of infrastructure to economic growth and social wellbeing, many countries struggle to meet the increasing demand by growing cities for infrastructure services (ULI, 2007; WEF, 2013), especially in developing countries including South Africa (SAICE, 2006), and many consumers struggle to afford the increasing costs associated with the services they use (National Treasury, 2012).

The South African Institute for Civil Engineers (SAICE), in their assessment of infrastructure in South Africa, rated bulk services like water, sanitation and solid waste management in major urban areas and national and local energy distribution networks as ‘fair’, while bulk national water infrastructure, non-urban solid waste management, non-national roads, and non-urban electricity distribution were rated as ‘poor’ (SAICE, 2006). In South Africa almost two-thirds of the R76.6 billion owed to municipalities by consumers is owed by households (National Treasury, 2012) due, in part, to the state of the economy and substantial increases in tariffs.

While infrastructure undoubtedly can lead to an improvement in the quality of life of users, in many instances this contribution comes at the expense of environmental quality. The expanding network of roads, for example, covers many thousands of kilometres of land—more than 747 000 km in South Africa (SAInfo, 2013)—with significant

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

impacts on the ecosystem resulting in diminishing ecosystem services, as does the damming of rivers (McCully, 2001). Road surfaces also decrease the ability of the land to absorb rain water resulting in an increase in runoff. Bulk services require energy to pump water to reservoirs and buildings, and to pump effluent away from buildings for both sewerage and stormwater (Cohen, R., Nelson, B. and Wolff, G. (2004). The energy required is mainly generated by the burning of fossil fuels such as gas, oil and coal, with a concomitant release of greenhouse gases.

Green infrastructure seeks to perform those functions in a manner that, at the very least, minimises its impact on the natural environment and, at best, enhances the quality of the natural environment.

Definition

Green infrastructure can be defined as the design and development of infrastructure that works with natural systems in the performance of its functions. Green infrastructure recognises the importance of the natural environment in land use planning decisions with particular regard to supporting the interconnected life support functions provided by the network of natural ecosystems (EPA, 2007).

Greening infrastructure, on the other hand, can be defined as infrastructure that indirectly reduces the negative environmental consequences of infrastructure development in its operation.

Examples of greening infrastructure would be emission-free, energy-generating infrastructure such as solar and wind.

Green infrastructure terminology

As stated earlier, green infrastructure essentially makes use of and/or mimics natural processes: in this sense green

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GREEN(ING) INFRASTRUCTURE

Figure 1: SWA Groups Buffalo Bayou Promenade created recreational areas along the waterway and incorporated flood mitigation infrastructure (Gendall, 2013). infrastructure focuses mainly on water management in general, and stormwater management in particular.

To better understand the concept of green infrastructure, some generally used terms are described below.

Biodiversity: encompasses the number, abundance and distribution of all species of life on earth. It includes the diversity of individual species, the genetic diversity within species and the range of habitats that support them. Biodiversity also includes humans and human interactions with the environment (Dale et al, 2011).

Bioinfiltration: bioretention systems are soil- and plant-based facilities systems employed to filter and treat runoff from developed areas. Bioretention systems are designed for water infiltration and evapotranspiration, along with pollutant removal by soil filtering, sorption mechanisms, microbial transformations,

and other processes (American Rivers et al, 2012).

Blue space: any piece of open water, public or private, usually within or adjoining an urban area (Kale et al, 2011).

Coherence: a coherent ecological network is one that has all the elements necessary to achieve its overall objectives.

The components are chosen to be complementary and mutually reinforcing, so that the value of the whole network is greater than the sum of its parts (Kale et al, 2011).

Ecology: the study of plants (flora) and animals (fauna) and the relationship between them and their physical environment (Kale et al, 2011).

Ecosystem� a biological community and its physical environment (Kale et al, 2011).

Ecosystem services: the multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems (Kale et al, 2011).

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GREEN(ING) INFRASTRUCTURE

1

Green infrastructure: an approach to wet weather management that uses natural systems—or engineered systems that mimic natural processes—to enhance overall environmental quality and provide utility services. As a general principal, green infrastructure techniques use soils and vegetation to infiltrate, evapotranspire, and/or recycle stormwater runoff (American Rivers et al, 2012). In this capacity it is a strategically planned and delivered network of natural and man-made green (land) and blue (water) spaces that sustain natural processes. It is designed and managed as a multifunctional resource capable of delivering a wide range of environmental and quality of life benefits for society (Kale et al, 2011).

Green infrastructure systems: include tree boxes, vegetated swales, vegetated median strips, cisterns and rain water tanks, land conservation and reforestation, rain water harvesting, green roofs, riparian buffers, parks and greenbelts, permeable pavement, wetland and floodplain construction, rain gardens, bioinfiltration practices and ecological sanitation systems (City of Philadephia, 2009; Austin and Duncker, 2002).

Greening infrastructure systems: include the generation of electricity from renewable sources such as wind, water and solar.

Grey infrastructure: in the context of stormwater management, grey infrastructure can be thought of as the hard, engineered systems to capture and convey runoff, such as gutters, storm sewers, tunnels, culverts, detention basins, and related systems (American Rivers et al, 20012).

Green roof: employs vegetated roof covers, with growing media and plants covering or taking the place of bare membrane, gravel ballast, shingles or tiles.

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THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

A green roof system is an extension of the existing roof which involves a high quality water proofing and root repellent system, a drainage system, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium and plants (American Rivers et al, 2012).

Green space: any piece of open land, public or private, usually within or adjoining an urban area (Kale et al, 2011).

Green streets: a streetscape designed to integrate a system of stormwater management within its right of way, reduce the amount of runoff into storm sewers, make the best use of the tree canopy for stormwater interception as well as temperature mitigation and air quality improvement (American Rivers et al, 2012).

Hard engineering: the controlled disruption of natural processes to achieve a desired solution by using masonry, concrete or steel structures (Kale et al, 2011).

Impervious cover (or, impervious area, imperviousness): any surface that cannot be effectively (easily) penetrated by water, thereby resulting in runoff. Examples include pavement (asphalt, concrete), buildings, rooftops, driveways/roadways, parking lots and sidewalks (American Rivers et al, 2012).

Rain garden: a rain garden is a strategically located low area planted with native vegetation that intercepts runoff. Other terms include mini-wetlands, stormwater gardens, water quality gardens, a stormwater marsh, a backyard wetland, a low swale, a wetland biofilter, and a bioretention pond.

Rain gardens are designed to direct polluted runoff into a low, vegetated area where the pollutants can be captured and filtered (American Rivers et al, 2012).

Resilience: the persistence of natural systems in the face of changes in ecosystem variables due to natural or anthropogenic causes (Kale et al, 2011).

1

Figure 2: De Urbanisten’s Watersquare Project in Rotterdam is a sunken plaza that doubles as a catchment system to manage stormwater (Gendall, 2013).

Figure 3: Ballard Roadside Rain Gardens, Seattle, Washington (Robbins, 2013).

GREEN(ING) INFRASTRUCTURE

Soft engineering: working with natural processes and using natural or semi-natural materials to achieve a desired solution (Kale et al, 2011).

Stormwater (or, runoff ): Stormwater/ runoff is precipitation that becomes polluted once it flows over driveways, streets, parking lots, construction sites, agricultural fields, lawns, and industrial areas. Pollutants associated with stormwater include oils, grease, sediment, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, bacteria, debris and litter. Stormwater washes these pollutants through the storm sewer system into local streams and drainage basins. In addition, because impervious surfaces prevent precipitation from soaking into the ground, more precipitation becomes runoff, and the additional volumes and velocities of stormwater can scour streams and river channels, creating erosion and sediment problems (American Rivers et al, 2012).

Street trees: when properly designed traditional tree plantings along street and road edges can capture, infiltrate and transpire stormwater. These functions can be expanded by incorporating trees into more extensively designed “tree pits” that collect and filter stormwater through layers of mulch, soil and plant root systems where pollutants can be retained, degraded and absorbed (American Rivers et al, 2012).

Green infrastructure functions

Figure 4: Permeable concrete pavement at the CSIR Innovation Site, designed to hold one hour of rainfall in Pretoria.

Green infrastructure systems are therefore those systems that can replace traditional grey infrastructure by utilising and/or mimicking natural systems.

Green infrastructure involves the integration of all aspects of the design and construction in civil engineering projects to deliver a strategically planned network of natural and man-made green (land) and

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blue (water) spaces that sustain biodiversity and natural processes. Well-designed green infrastructure has the potential to have many different functions, as it can provide a broad range of ecosystem services with benefits to the economy and society.

Green stormwater management

Traditionally, stormwater is managed through a system of impervious surfaces, open channels, trenches and pipes that carry it away from buildings and ground surfaces to a suitable area for discharge or treatment.

Often it will be discharged to the nearest watercourse or stream, if available, although ultimately it will find its way into a watercourse.

Conventional stormwater management poses three challenges: first, any pollution caught up in the stormwater will be discharged into a stream, river, lake or dam, creating a significant environmental problem for ecosystems along the way; secondly, as the urban footprint increases, so too does the area of impervious surfaces, thereby diminishing the absorption potential and increasing the flooding potential, especially in areas where climate change may result in higher rates of precipitation; and thirdly, the ability to replenish the water-table is diminished, a problem that may become acute as a growing population increases its groundwater withdrawal.

Green infrastructure strategies include using rooftop vegetation to control stormwater; restoring wetlands to retain floodwater; installing permeable pavement to mimic natural hydrology; and using or capturing and re-using water

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more efficiently on site. By employing natural processes such as infiltration and evaporation, these approaches prevent stormwater from polluting watercourses and water bodies, and/or reducing flooding.

Climate adaptation via green infrastructure

Climate change will impact on urban areas in a number of ways, varying from higher rates of precipitation in some areas to higher temperatures in others. The forecast for South Africa is an increasingly hotter climate —increasing by between 4 and 5°C—with drier conditions generally but a higher rate of precipitation along the KwaZulu-Natal north coast (Conradie, 2012).

Since forests and oceans are known to be carbon sinks, deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to climate change (Szalay, 2013). Green infrastructure can be a climate change mitigation strategy by replacing lost carbon sinks. Green infrastructure can be a climate change adaptation strategy by reducing the heat island effect in urban areas through shading and evaporative cooling, by reducing the volume of runoff and by increasing natural features that can reduce the effects of storm surges and flooding (Krayenhoff and Bass, 2003; Foster, Lowe and Winkelman, 2012; Gill et al, 2007).

Biophilic urbanism and green infrastructure

Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson popularised the concept of biophilia, describing it as “the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms.

Innate means hereditary and hence part of ultimate human nature” (Beatley 2011).

Beatley argues that humans are at their

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emotional and physical healthiest, happiest and most productive when working and living in close proximity to nature. There is sufficient evidence, according to Beatley, to support the notion that urban buildings that are green and natural contribute to maximal healing (in the case of health-care facilities), and improved learning (in the case of academic institutions). There are many ways in which urban environments can provide access to nature, including parks, natural areas, and views of nature through rooftops to roadways to riverfronts.

Beatley offers the following key qualities of biophilic cities: • Biophilic cities are cities of abundant nature in close proximity to city dwellers; • In biophilic cities urban dwellers feel a deep affinity with the unique local flora and fauna, and with the climate, topography, and other special qualities of place and environment that serve to define the urban setting; and • Biophilic cities invest in social and physical infrastructure that helps to bring urban dwellers in closer connection and understanding of nature.

Green infrastructure helps maintain valuable ecosystems services at a broader landscape level, maintain biodiversity by ensuring ecological coherence and connectivity of the whole network, and enhancing landscape permeability to aid species dispersal, migration and movement (EU, 2010).

•

•

•

•

Conclusion

Green infrastructure provides an effective land-use management strategy in at least four critical areas: • Green infrastructure can provide a less expensive and more cost-effective

•

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management strategy for stormwater runoff and by so doing reduce the financial burden to the local authority, the property developer and the occupier. A more localised stormwater management system reduces the need for an extensive reticulation system of channels, pipes, pumps and treatment plants.

Green infrastructure reduces energy demand by reducing the need to collect and transport stormwater to a suitable discharge location. In addition, green infrastructure such as green roofs, street trees and increased green spaces reduce the heating and cooling loads on buildings from the shading offered to buildings and impervious surfaces.

Harvested precipitation can further reduce energy demands by reducing the demand on the water reticulation system.

Green infrastructure can reduce the economic costs and risks associated with flooding by reducing runoff volumes and by providing either permanent or temporary holding areas.

Green infrastructure enhances public health and reduces illness-related costs by reducing the extent of pollutants collected and dispersed throughout the stormwater management system.

Green infrastructure is an effective climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy by reducing anthropological contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and by reducing the negative impacts of climate change on cities and urban dwellers; and Green infrastructure contributes to the innate emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms, thereby enhancing human quality of life.

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References •

• • • • •

• • • •

• • •

• • •

• • • • •

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AR (2012). Banking on Green, A joint report by American Rivers, the Water Environment Federation, the American Society of Landscape Architects and ECONorthwest, City of Oregon, 2012.

Austin, X. and Duncker, L. (2002). CSIR, Pretoria.

Beatley, T. (2011). Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning, Island Press, Washington.

City of Philadelphia (2009). Implementing green infrastructure, Economy League, Greater Philadelphia.

Conradie, D. (2012). South African Climate Zones and Weather Files, The Green Building Handbook Volume 4, Alive2Green, Cape Town.

Cohen, R., Nelson, B. and Wolff, G. (2004). Energy Down the Drain: The Hidden Costs of California’s Water Supply, Natural Resources Defence Council and the Pacific Institute, www.nrdc.org/water/conservation/edrain/edrain.pdf Dale, K., Thomson, C., Kelly, J., Hay, D. and MacDougall, K. (2011). Delivering biodiversity benefits through green infrastructure, CIRIA, London.

EPA (2007). Green infrastructure statement of intent, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington.

EU (2010). Green infrastructure, European Commission.

Foster, J., Lowe, A. and Winkelma, S. (2012). The Value of Green Infrastructure for Urban Climate Adaptation, Center for Clean Air Policy, www.ccap.org/docs/resources/989/ Green_Infrastructure_FINAL.pdf Gendall, J. (2013). “Green-grey infrastructure”, retrieved from http://archpaper.com/news/ articles.asp?id=6875 on 3 October 2013.

Gill, S., Handley, J., Ennos, A. and Pauleit, S. (2007). “Adapting Cities for Climate Change: The Role of the Green Infrastructure”, Built Environment Vol. 33 No 1.

Krayenhoff, S. and Bass, B. (2003). The Impact of Green Roofs on the Urban Heat Island: A Toronto case study. Report to the National Research Council, Institute for Research in Construction, Ottowa.

McCully, P. (2001). Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams, Zed Books, London.

National Treasury (2012). Third Quarter Local Government Section 21 Report, National Treasury, Pretoria.

Robbins, J. (2012). “With Funding Tight, Cities are Turning to Green Infrastructure”, retrieved from http://e360.yale.edu/slideshow/with_funding_tight_cities_are_turning_to_green_ infrastructure/118/4/ on 18 October 2013.

SAICE (2006). The SAICE Infrastructure Report Card for South Africa: 2006, South African Institution of Civil Engineering, Johannesburg.

South Africa Info (2013). South Africa’s transport network, www.southafrica.info/business/ economy/infrastructure/transport retrieved 2 January 2014 Szalay, J. (2013). Deforestation: Facts, Causes and Effects, retrieved from www.livescience. com/27692-deforestation on 3 January 2014.

ULI (2007). Infrastructure 2007: A Global Perspective, Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young, Washington.

WEF (2013). Global Agenda Council on Infrastructure 2012–2014, World Economic Forum, www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2013/WEF_GAC_Infrastructure_MidtermReport.pdf THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

skin in the game.

GPF PERFORMANCE: 2003 - 2014 (MARCH YEAR END):

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE GPF PRODUCT RANGE, OR TO APPLY FOR FUNDING, PROFILEPLEASE CONTACT:

ogether Housing the Nation

Over the past 11 years, GPF has committed funding for projects to a value close to R600 million, leveraging over R2.2 billion of private funding in social rental housing projects. This has facilitated over 20 000 housing units and funded over 15 000 completed units.

(t) 011 685 6600 (e) info@gpf.org.za (w) www.gpf.org.za

Gauteng Partnership Fund makes GPF boasts its Rental Housing Fund, Social Housing(GPF) Fund, PF) bridges money gap for and more recently, its Entrepreneur Empowerment affordable housing a reality for all.

Property Fund (EEPF), an incubator programme designed

y.

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e y

Jabulani CBD, Soweto

d

y

Brickfields, Johannesburg

nd

Since the 1970s, the urban landscape of the SEPTEMBER 2014 Gauteng Province has transformed into the highly connected cluster of cities, towns and urban nodes we know today. This has translated into a landscape of urban sprawl, low-density housing programmes and a spatial distortion in the spread of economic activity and employment opportunities.

With the Gauteng urban region representing the most dense concentration of economic activity, population, and poverty in South Africa, it is also home to 50% of all South Africa’s highincome earners, and 13.6% of its people are living below the minimum living level. This disparity cannot be ignored.

Even so, it is a land of opportunity, and 2002, Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF) was formed as a bridge between the public and private sectors, helping to answer to the demand for affordable housing in Gauteng, by leveraging the necessary finance for these projects.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING - THE SOLUTION

Kliptown, Soweto

In its quest to leverage funding for affordable housing development in Gauteng, GPF contributes solutions not only to a localised set of challenges, but to a national dilemma.

These challenges include a historical housing backlog, redressing Apartheid’s legacy of separateness, of capital redistribution and empowerment, of property ownership and what it means for wealth creation, reducing unemployment and creating jobs, the constitutional right to housing for all South African citizens, and the demand for better infrastructure and services supporting these

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PROFILE

“

RISKS AND RETURNS

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

“

– African proverb

houses. The question that comes to mind, then, is this squarely government’s responsibility?

OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME Government • Not enough capital available in government treasury for housing.

• Pace of delivery needs to be improved if we are to meet demand.

• Insufficient skilled human capital in government.

• Limited innovation in addressing housing challenges.

Private sector • Driven rather by FSC, property charter, than opportunities.

• Decisions on housing sector perception rather than facts.

• Lack of investment in under-developed areas, i.e. black townships.

Contribution to SA’s economy • Construction and property: jobs, tax, revenue • Mining sector: cement, stones, etc.

• Manufacturing: doors, lintels, sanitary ware, etc.

• Small business: plumbers, electricians, etc.

• Finance industry: mortgage, microfinance.

• Social investment: sustainable society.

GPF is structured as a social delivery vehicle of the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements (GDHS), operating on a cost recovery basis, and is not expected to earn market returns, but social returns. The socio-economic returns on funded projects or deliberate interventions are as significant as financial returns.

GPF is a calculated risk taker with an appetite to share financing risk with partners, putting up the first layer of capital, and thus occupying a subordinated first-risk position in the funding structures of projects. GPF expects the investor/ developer to contribute minimum equity towards a project to demonstrate seriousness and have a skin in the game.

THE GPF SUCCESS STORY Over the past 11 years, GPF has committed funding for projects to a value close to R600 million, leveraging over R2.2 billion of private funding in social rental housing projects. This has facilitated over 20 000 housing units and funded over 15 000 completed units.

GPF boasts its Rental Housing Fund, Social Housing Fund, and more recently, its Entrepreneur Empowerment Property Fund (EEPF), an incubator programme designed to promote participation of previously disadvantaged-owned companies in the affordable rental property market. *Article adapted from the GPF Property Entrepreneur Seminar Presentation delivered by Boni Muvevi, GPF CEO on the 4th of June 2014.

For more information about the GPF product range, or to apply for funding please contact: (t) 011 685 6600 (e) info@gpf.org.za (w) www.gpf.org.za

GO!DURBAN AIMS TO DELIVER ¢ Upgraded fleet, facilities, stops and stations ¢ Extended hours of operation (16-24hrs)

INTEGRATED RAPID PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK

¢ Peak frequency (5-10min) – Off Peak frequency (10-30min) ¢ Universal accessibilty (special needs and wheelchair access) ¢ Safe and secure operations monitored by a Traffic Management Centre ¢ Electronic integrated fare management system ¢ Integrated feeder services ¢ Non-motorised transport including walking / cycling and hiking networks ¢ Integration with metered taxi services and long distance intercity services ¢ Car competitive options and alternatives – to enable strict peak period car use management

AN ADDRESS

FROM THE HEAD OF THE ETA, THAMI MANYATHI: “Durban joins a number of other cities around the world that use IRPTN systems, such as Curitiba, Singapore and Bogota. Part of our objective as the ETA, is to promote transport that is universally accessible to all of Durban’s citizens. GO!Durban is identified as one of the key pillars that are integral to the stimulation of economic growth now and in the future. Initially citizens will see the development of high quality public transport linkages between Bridge City, Durban Central, Pinetown, Umlazi and Umhlanga.

The aim is to provide seamless transfers across transport modes, by creating ease of access at stations and precincts, and by using electronic ticketing and providing passenger safety and security.”

THE INTEGRATED RAPID PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK (IRPTN)

OUR NETWORK

The IRPTN will be a flexible, high performance rapid transit system with a variety of physical and operational elements combined into a permanently integrated system.

THE KEY FOCUS

The network will see the development of nine corridors linked by various modes of transport (Bus, Rail and Taxi) across eThekwini by 2027.

Transport provision is intrinsic to creating a more vibrant, liveable and sustainable city which correlates with the City’s vision that by 2030 eThekwini will be Africa’s most caring and liveable city.

GO!Durban aims to provide affordable and accessible transport to eThekwini citizens by not only connecting different areas around the city but by providing transport to areas that were previously not serviced.

Phasing Phase 1

Planned Operational Year C3

2016

C1

2017

C9

2018

C2 (Rail)

2016

Phase 2

C5, C7

2022

Phase 3

C4, C8

2025

Phase 4

C6

2027

FOR NOW IS PHASE 1

The initial stage is currently being implemented and is characterised by 4 corridors including rail. This phase is expected to be completed by 2018 and the network will accommodate: ¢ Approximately 25% of the municipality’s total trunk public transport demand on road based IRPTN services ¢ A further 40% by the trunk rail network as part of Passenger Rail Association of South Africa (PRASA) implementation plans This approach ensures recognisable benefit to the maximum number of users in the shortest period of time for the given level of investment required. Of the 190km of road based trunk corridors, 60km are planned for the Phase 1.

THE KEY GOALS

THAT THE CITY WILL DELIVER THROUGH GO!DURBAN

¢ 85% of all residents will have access to safe, affordable and quality scheduled public transport ¢ Promote the emergence of a world-class city, by providing opportunities for densification, mixed-use and transit oriented development thereby reducing the need to travel ¢ Inspire a wave of architectural renewal, which will result in urban rejuvenation and revitalization of run-down areas ¢ Create job opportunities

A SOCIAL FRANCHISING PARTNERSHIP APPROACH TO MAINTENANCE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

Dr Kevin Wall

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I

f any infrastructure is not maintained properly, it will not deliver the required service and/or will not deliver it reliably and/or to the right standard of performance.

South Africa generally does not have a good track record when it comes to infrastructure maintenance. Failure of infrastructure, such as water pipes, roads and electricity reticulation, caused or exacerbated by a poor maintenance regime, has serious consequences for human development, poverty alleviation and economic growth. In some areas of South Africa, infrastructure failure is negating the impact of the development undertaken to date. Infrastructure maintenance needs to be done year after year. Sometimes the main problem is lack of maintenance budget. At other times the main problem is lack of skills to undertake the maintenance. Often there is a combination of both of these, together with no clear assignment of who is responsible for the work.

The maintenance of some of the envisaged green technologies will be beyond the capability of the owner/ beneficiary. It may also in some instances for additional reasons be desirable that the owner/beneficiary not undertake the maintenance but that it is done by trained and competent persons.

South Africa has exceptionally high unemployment levels. There is substantial evidence that low skills levels are a significant contributor to this unemployment. However much of the required maintenance can be done by people with low skills levels. The dual need for more maintenance and for job creation especially for people with low skills levels suggests that addressing maintenance backlogs would generate extensive opportunities for skills development and job creation.

But this is easier said than done. Ways have to be found to manage this job creation and

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skills transfer while simultaneously ensuring the quality and reliability of the maintenance work. The CSIR and its partners have pioneered a “social franchising partnership” approach, borrowing from and adapting commercial franchising principles, which involves creating partnerships on the basis of franchising principles relating to quality control and mutual incentives. Piloted in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and now rolling out at scale, this initiative has simultaneously brought about both: • maintenance of selected infrastructure, and returning it to service; and • microbusiness development and nurturing, job creation, and skills development of people, many of whom had never before in their lives received training which enabled them to do wage-earning jobs.

If in the right hands, this approach, through training and mentoring, and also thanks to the strong incentives built into the system, ensures quality and reliability of service.

The approach has potential for adaptation to the operation and/or maintenance of other infrastructure, including electricity reticulation, roads and stormwater reticulation, buildings and estates—and green infrastructure.

The need for maintenance and its potential for skills development and job creation

Engineering infrastructure (reservoirs, pipes, treatment works, bridges, roads, rail, harbours, electricity distribution, etc.) is a means to an end. It supports quality of life and the economy if it delivers accessible and reliable services. Clearly, in order to achieve this purpose, infrastructure must be operated and maintained properly. If not, the infrastructure (water pipes, for example)

2

may continue to exist, but the service will deteriorate or may even cease (i.e. the water will leak away, and/or pressure will drop—or the water will no longer flow).

There is no lack of evidence of widespread poor maintenance of infrastructure in SA. Year after year, the operation and maintenance of infrastructure has in far too many cases been found not to comply with the required standards (SAICE (2011); DWA (2012a) and (2012b)). These operation and maintenance shortfalls are particularly manifest in “the quality and reliability of basic infrastructure serving the majority of our citizens [which] is poor and, in many places, getting worse. Urgent attention is required to stabilise and improve these.”

(SAICE (2011, page 5)) The consequent service delivery failures are pointers of warning that serious turnaround strategies are required in South African municipal service delivery. Furthermore, many socalled “service delivery protests” have been linked to breakdown of infrastructure.

Thus, while Government’s drive to provide new infrastructure to those who have never enjoyed services is wholeheartedly supported, the challenge is to supplement this with the maintenance of both new and old infrastructure. It is important to note that failure of infrastructure has serious consequences for human development, poverty alleviation and economic growth.

The cost of not maintaining infrastructure is no longer affordable; in some areas infrastructure failure is negating the impact of the infrastructure development undertaken to date.

President Zuma has in more than one state of the nation address said that “the construction sector” (almost always interpreted as only the building of new infrastructure) is a known driver of work opportunities. Indeed it is, but it must be borne in mind that construction is subject

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE

to periodic booms and busts. This pattern exists for a number of reasons: principally fluctuations in the economy, changes in political priorities, and also changes in need (e.g. the short-term demand for stadium and freeway construction, a peak which rapidly unwound after 2010).

As a result, most construction jobs, and particularly those for general workers, last the duration of a construction project, which could be anything between a couple of months and, in relatively few cases, two to three years. The worker must then find another job—which, in times of a downturn in construction activity (such as the present time) is difficult.

In contrast, infrastructure maintenance needs to be done year after year.

Maintenance workers are therefore needed not just for the limited period of the construction of infrastructure but for the lifespan of that infrastructure. Furthermore, much maintenance can only be done, or can best be done, by labour-intensive methods, and/or by workers who need have only entry-level skills.

A lot of construction activity is geographically concentrated, and once a project is finished, attention moves to a new site. In contrast, engineering infrastructure exists in all corners of the land, and thus maintenance is needed across the nation at all times. There is huge job creation potential in maintenance. But a substantial effort must go into managing the process, and to controlling quality.

Employment is vital to the social, economic and political development of South Africa; it is a key mechanism for addressing widespread poverty. Jobs also generate a sense of accomplishment, dignity and participation. Many of the skills needed to improve a worker’s employability —such as punctuality, discipline, the ability to work in a team—are developed on the

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job. The workplace is a preferred site for the acquisition of these soft skills—and, also, of course, for the acquisition, or improvement, of task skills.

Millions of South Africans are unemployed. South Africa’s participation rate is far below the average for emerging markets (42%). Some evidence suggests that the basic education system is producing young people who will find it difficult to get jobs. The Global Competitiveness Report ranks SA 54th out of 139 overall, but health and education rankings suggest that these areas hold the country back. “Quality of the education system” ranked South Africa 130th, and 137th for “quality of maths and science education”.

Thus, if so many people are low-skilled, we need more jobs of a type which they can do. High unemployment generally, with young people having particularly high levels of joblessness and minimal if any skills or work experience, suggests a need for masses of jobs to be created, especially for those least skilled.

Addressing maintenance backlogs would generate extensive opportunities for skills development and job creation. But ways have to be found to make it happen.

Green infrastructureand its operation and maintenance What is green infrastructure?

What infrastructure is “green”? Whereas there is no universally agreed classification, Van Wyk states that it is “any infrastructure which mimics natural systems”. Examples he suggests are reedbeds, permeable pavements, and rainwater harvesting.

He goes on to say, however, that the definition also includes what he refers to as “green(ing) infrastructure, which does not

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mimic natural systems, but does reduce the environmental impact of traditional infrastructure”. Examples he gives here include photovoltaic panels, solar water heaters, sanitation and solid waste technologies with nutrient reuse potential, and some of the on-site sanitation systems at household and small community level.

(Van Wyk 2014) Elaborating on this definition, for the purposes of this paper, “green infrastructure” is that infrastructure in accordance with Van Wyk’s outline, which also qualifies by reason of both its location (and the area/catchment which it serves) and its type. As follows: Green infrastructure could be on-site or serving only a small community.

• On-site: at e.g. single household, block of apartments, housing complex, clinic, hospital, school, retail premises, office building, industrial premises, farm, military base, and municipal depot— among other possibilities.

• Small community: e.g. golf estate, and housing development of order of 50–150 houses—among other possibilities.

And (this is important) which could logically become the responsibility of that on-site entity, or small community, to operate and maintain.

A whole suburb, or a whole municipality, would not qualify in this sense.

As to the type, examples could include: • With respect to water and waste—with respect to the sanitation, greywater and solid waste infrastructure: if they included recycling and especially nutrient reuse, even more so would they be regarded as “green”. Also including still innovating technologies such as: the anaerobic baffle reactor types (such as that built to process sewage from 83 adjacent homes, and designed to produce biogas and

2

nutrient-rich effluent, currently being piloted in eThekwini in conjunction with the Newlands Mashu Agro-ecology hub) and pit latrine sludge dehydration and pasteurisation by means of the LaDePa machine (LaDePa—Latrine Dehydration and Pasteurisation), also currently being piloted in eThekwini. Rainwater harvesting, protected springs, water treatment and wastewater treatment decentralised plants (including package plants) less than (say) 0.5 megalitres per day, and on-site sanitation systems (e.g.

Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines (VIPs), urine diversion toilets—among the many other on-site toilet types, “composting toilets need constant attention by trained people”. (Bhagwan 2012) • With respect to energy: solar panels and photovoltaic cells for energy or heating—peak capacity of household solar systems installed so far typically range between 50 and 110 W each, although, as more upmarket houses install the systems, this range is rising.

Commercial and industrial installations put in place 2010–2012 average peak capacity each: 171 kW for commercial, and 304 kW for industrial. (DTI et al 2013, pages 24 and 39) • With respect to roads and stormwater: permeable paving, and small catchment stormwater retention schemes (which could include reedbeds).

And the work required would be the operation and/or the maintenance of this infrastructure.

For example: in terms of this definition, on-site generation of solar energy for a small community is “green”, whereas centralised generation at thermal stations of electrical energy and its distribution to the sites of demand is not.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE

Who will maintain it?

Who will maintain the green infrastructure?

If it is not maintained to specification, it will not deliver the promised benefits, even if the required budget is in place.

So—how to ensure that the necessary expertise, tools, methodologies and so on are available and are applied? Or that, at least, the best possible job is done, given the circumstances.?

Often it would be necessary to pay even more attention to careful operation and maintenance if the infrastructure is green than if it is conventional. For a number of reasons, including that the green version would be less familiar to users, and also it would probably be more difficult to find someone around (a neighbour, a contractor, even the municipality) who has the necessary expertise and equipment.

Compounding the problem would often be that the average South African householder or community has little interest in the maintenance or repair of infrastructure which he or she does not regard as his or her own (especially given that so much green infrastructure has been installed at RDP houses, for people deemed to be “indigent”) —or which he or she would not see direct benefit in maintaining or repairing. Putting this another way, and offering an example: if I do not pay for water consumption on my property, would I necessarily take steps to fix a leak? That is, would I report the leak to “the authorities” who I would regard as responsible for the water infrastructure?

Even less likely—would I spend my time and money on fixing the leak? Would it worry me that, by undertaking some maintenance or repair (at my cost), I would be saving water which cost “someone else” far more to supply to me than the cost of the maintenance or repair—would this be sufficient to motivate me to do the maintenance or repair?

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And even if I understood that I would be saving someone else a considerable sum, if I didn’t have sufficient discretionary funds of my own to cover the costs of the maintenance or repair, would this not also lead to my deciding not to do the maintenance or repair?

Taking this a step further: if I didn’t own the infrastructure, facility or property, would I maintain it or repair it? Would I even operate as it ought to be operated?

And yet another step further: especially if the infrastructure was a little out of the ordinary, and/or a little more complicated than the everyday, would I have the skills to maintain it and repair it?

Consider then what might well happen to the more than 16 000 household solar systems which have been installed—in 2011, as reported by Stats SA (2011), “15,898 households in the country made use of the solar home systems. The majority of solar home systems are currently installed in tribal areas and specifically provinces of KwaZuluNatal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.”

However, large numbers of these are thought to be no longer functioning, and in other instances the systems have been stolen; on the other hand, since 2011 the numbers installed have increased rapidly every year. In particular, many more upmarket houses have been built with solar home systems and/or existing houses have been retrofitted with them. (DTI et al 2013, pages 23–24 and 44). What are the chances that the householders will maintain and repair them—or even operate them correctly, simple as that might appear to be to a technical person?

Anything slightly out of the ordinary which is installed at households and public institutions, particularly low income households and institutions in lower income areas of South Africa, tends not to be

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maintained correctly, or not be maintained at all.

The author’s experience with household sanitation systems suggests that the solar water heaters—and other green infrastructure—will in the greater majority of cases not be maintained and repaired by the households. Between two and three million household on-site VIPs have been installed, the vast majority of them since 1994. The authorities of the time assumed that the households would take care of them when the pits filled up. However this is not happening. All over the country, pits are full, and the toilets are therefore not fit for use. Households are reluctant to undertake the emptying.

The job is seen as messy and unpleasant (it is), and the faecal matter is seen as too hazardous for untrained and unequipped amateurs to handle (true). Households seldom call specialists in, because they can’t afford to pay them, or they do not see why they should pay them—or both.

Many households are therefore no longer using the toilets, but resorting to other measures for disposal of faecal matter, such as throwing it into adjacent properties.

Current research and practice confirms that even apparently uncomplicated maintenance and repair tasks are beyond many users of household-level infrastructure, not all of them unsophisticated users. For example, a study of the usage of rainwater tanks noted that training should be provided in both how to use the tanks and how to maintain and repair them. “Such training should include the reasons why rainwater harvesting is important, awareness as to why they received the tanks and how the tanks are meant to benefit them if they use them correctly, the potential contamination of rainwater, [and] the health risks involved and how to minimise these.”

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The study goes further still with its recommendations. “Maintenance of a rainwater harvesting system is an on-going regular duty, and knowledge gaps in terms of maintaining the tank exist.

“Accepting that many households either would not or could not undertake the maintenance, “an alternative solution may be to train one or two individuals in the community to supervise the functioning, operation, maintenance and repair of the tanks, instead of rolling out a training programme geared at the entire household.”

(Dobrowsky et al, 2014, page 405) This study, and the extensive experience of the present author, suggest that, even for fairly simple (apparently simple) maintenance and repair tasks, it would generally be more effective to create from the communities, and then capacitate, suitable persons as specialists to undertake this work, rather than expecting the households to do it.

Much green infrastructure, over and above the rainwater harvesting infrastructure already mentioned, surely falls into the category of too complicated for the average householder to maintain and repair.

This suggests that the selection and capacitation of specialists (preferably drawn from the local communities), and their undertaking of the work, should also be considered.

It is the author’s contention that a great number, if not the majority, of householders provided with many elements of green technology will not have the means (finance and/or skill) or the will to maintain and/or repair them.

Therefore alternatives must be sought. In the first instance, these would be alternative people or institutions who can do the work and have the incentive to do it—and to do it to the required standard.

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The point can be illustrated by reference to the experience with the on-site sanitation facilities.

Chauke, Chief Director responsible for sanitation in the National Department of Human Settlements (the Department then responsible for household sanitation) said in April 2012 that VIPs are designed to have sufficient capacity for only five years on average, after which they need to be emptied. However, he continued, very little emptying had taken place, and many were already full. The expectation of the Department had been that households would take care of the emptying, but in practice very few households had done so. He described this as a “national crisis”.

(Chauke, 2012). Moreover, hundreds of thousands more VIPs have been installed at institutions such as schools and clinics.

Not to mention tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of other standalone on-site sanitation types which have been installed at households and other places.

The author has been closely involved with a project that between 2009 and 2012 undertook a survey (and subsequent remedial work) of the sanitation facilities at all of the approximately 400 public schools in the Butterworth education district of the Eastern Cape. In nearly every case the water and sanitation solution provided was an on-site technology, invariably rainwater harvesting and VIPs. Whereas each school should have had approximately 15 toilets, in practice many schools had fewer (which is a problem in itself, and a symptom of institutional failure).

Nonetheless the number of toilets exceeded 4 000. The survey revealed that only a very small minority of these toilets had been satisfactorily maintained over the years.

The same project was subsequently extended to do similar work on

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approximately 450 VIPs in Dutywa. The finding was not dissimilar—nearly every toilet pit was full, with households reporting that they resorted to “alternative” measures, some of them unneighbourly, for their daily sanitation requirements.

That is to talk only of sanitation. Much the same can be said for water, electricity and other on-site infrastructure.

To conclude, the maintenance of some of the envisaged green technologies will be beyond the capability of the owner/ beneficiary. It may also in some instances be desirable that the owner/beneficiary not undertake the maintenance but that it is done by trained and competent persons.

How can we make this happen?

Social franchising partnerships: An innovative model

The dual need for more maintenance and for job creation especially for people with low skills levels suggests that addressing maintenance backlogs would generate extensive opportunities for skills development and job creation. But ways have to be found to manage this job creation and simultaneously ensure quality and reliability of the maintenance work.

One model, by no means the only alternative, is the “social franchising partnership” model, which borrows from and adapts commercial franchising principles. (Box 1) It utilises concepts formulated by the CSIR, and developed by the CSIR in collaboration with the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the East London-based water services provider and engineering contractor, called Amanz’ abantu Services.

This model has already successfully addressed a portion of an infrastructurerelated problem widely encountered in

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South Africa. The Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education (DoE), facing a crisis brought about by neglect of maintenance over many years, in 2009 agreed to a three-year pilot for routine servicing (akin to the 15 000km routine servicing of a motor vehicle) of water and sanitation facilities at the approximately 400 schools of the Butterworth education district. Since then, having noticed how effective this intervention has been, the nearby district municipality agreed on a pilot to service household toilets. Both pilots were very successful on all counts bar one, which was the inability of the DoE to make its contracted payments in full and on time.

Proven in these two extensive pilots (one at schools and one for households—both further described below), and since rolling out on a financially self-sustaining basis, this initiative using the social franchising model has simultaneously brought about both: • maintenance of selected infrastructure, and returning it to service, and • job creation, and skills development of people who had never before in their lives received training enabling them to do wage-earning jobs.

Social franchising partnerships, long established in the curative health services sector and social services sector in Europe and Asia, are especially suitable for communities with a large poorer population needing infrastructure services, but who are also looking for employment and an opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial and technical skills.

The concept provides opportunities for linking local economic development and job creation with the provision of basic municipal and community services.

The concept, as it is being (and has since 2009 been (Wall and Ive, 2013))

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The basic principles of franchising • Franchises’ success is based on replication of success, efficient logistics and a trained and capacitated workforce.

• Franchising is robust, and able to ensure consistent quality products and services.

• Franchisees are obliged to adopt the tried and tested systems and procedures of the franchisor (sometimes referred to as adopting “a business in a box”), and to accept the quality control of the franchisor—resulting in higher quality assurance and greater efficiencies.

• Franchises are able to innovate and develop constantly.

implemented in the Eastern Cape, provides appropriate training, a quality management system (QMS) and procedures, and the backup of the off-site skills held by the franchisor. The franchisor identifies people resident in the target area who have the skills and temperament appropriate to run the franchise microbusinesses and who, once they have been exposed to training, are willing to enter into a business agreement. Key to success is the willingness of the public sector authority owning the infrastructure to outsource its responsibility for routine servicing, and the ability of this authority to procure, appoint and direct— and pay—microbusinesses to undertake the work under the guidance of the franchisor.

Whereas other more commonly encountered institutional approaches to infrastructure operation and maintenance (e.g. in-house responsibility for this) have incorporated the building of capacity and development of skills in attempts to improve service delivery, many of these approaches have had limited success because they have not enjoyed sufficiently strong incentive structures and support systems. In contrast, the innovative and practical social franchising partnership approach is built on

a robust foundation of mutual support and incentives.

The pilot will be described in more detail below.

Social franchising partnerships: The pilots

Once a scope of work was agreed with the DoE, training and operations plans were developed. Advertisements called for parties interested in becoming “water services franchisees” to come forward. They had to be resident in the Butterworth area for two reasons: • to ensure that the work would be done by “local” people drawn from the communities that would be served, and • in order to minimise travelling time and cost to Butterworth and to the schools that would be serviced.

Thus these trainee franchisees, with few exceptions first-time entrepreneurs, were helped to set up microbusinesses. These businesses then employed local people, most of them previously unemployed, engaging them in learning and paid work.

Under the guidance of the franchisor, these teams undertook the initial cleaning and

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thereafter routine servicing of the water and sanitation facilities.

Franchisor Impilo Yabantu, a subsidiary of Amanz’ abantu, thereafter continued to provide structured learning in the form of mentoring, and also further training as and when necessary.

For the pilot, the cost of methodology development, training and further assistance, and also the cost of documentation of the learning, was borne by a combination of external funding from Irish Aid and the WRC, and corporate social responsibility contributions from Impilo Yabantu’s main shareholder and from the CSIR. Each of these organisations invested their resources because of their desire to improve maintenance and service delivery, develop skills and create jobs.

Franchisees were required to operate under the Impilo Yabantu brand, and to conform in all respects with the operating model which it had developed (and continued to develop further during the course of the pilot).

It needs to be emphasised that the maintenance services which the franchisee microbusinesses provide were in the pilot, and must in all future projects be paid for by the infrastructure owners (e.g. schools, authorities or municipalities) from their budgets annually allocated for operation and maintenance of infrastructure. If this is not done, the maintenance programmes will not be financially sustainable.

The primary objective of the Butterworth schools sanitation and water servicing pilot project was to develop and test an outsourcing concept which could be used for rolling out similar services to most of the more than 6 000 public schools across the 23 education districts of the province.

Without question, it succeeded in achieving

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this objective. The principal lessons learned from the pilots have been: • Task-specific concept development (for example the specifics of the business model, the training programme and the operations manuals) can be done only by a franchisor that knows the details of performance of that task, based on firsthand experience in the same or a similar community, • Potential franchisees must be chosen on the basis of willingness to work hard and to commit to the business principles.

• More potential franchisees must be chosen for training than will be needed to undertake the work—attrition during the training period will reduce numbers.

• Because the service is an essential service, provision must be made in the franchising agreements for prompt replacement of non-performing franchisees.

• Cash-flow problems will quickly put any small enterprise out of business. Careful attention must thus be paid to resolving any procedural issues around the payment process and ensuring prompt payment of invoices submitted by the franchisees.

• To facilitate rapid and dissension-free agreement that the work has been performed according to contract and that payment can be authorised, tasks must be as standardised as possible, and assigned standard prices.

Scaling up

At the time of writing, the biggest project is that to undertake the routine servicing work in four education districts (three of them predominantly rural) within the Eastern Cape, viz Dutywa, Butterworth, Cofimvaba, and East London.

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The procurement process took place during 2013. Contracts were let late in that year, and the water and sanitation facilities at nearly 1 400 schools are being serviced, and will be serviced regularly during 2013–2016. In addition, as variations to the same contracts, and in the same districts, toilets are being supplied and installed as and when requested by the DoE. On the municipal front, the franchisor is currently working with the both the Amathole District Municipality and Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality to help them further address their commitments to maintaining household latrines.

This includes exploring how the concept could optimise the participation of members of the local community so as to ensure timely emptying of pits, while furthering job creation and skills transfer.

This approach would allow the franchisor to expand its area of work, and would give it eyes on the ground, thereby allowing it to plan the work schedule better, more closely related to the demands of each locality.

The franchisor is in the process of expanding its operations to provide a wider range of services, initially by introducing additional services such as solid waste disposal. (This is a natural extension to the on-site sanitation programmes, given that, without a collection service, pit toilets rapidly fill up with inorganic waste.)

The way forward

If in the right hands, this approach, through training and mentoring, and also thanks to the strong incentives built into the system, ensures quality and reliability of service. Whereas the pilots have both been on low-technology sanitation and water infrastructure, there is clearly great potential for social partnerships to

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE

undertake operation and/or maintenance of other infrastructure. Opportunities have been identified in, for example, the maintenance of local electricity reticulation networks, in roads maintenance, in solid waste collection, in the maintenance of stormwater reticulation, and in the maintenance of community buildings and public open spaces—and also in the maintenance of green infrastructure.

Maintenance of some of the envisaged green technologies will be beyond the capability of the owner/beneficiary. It may also in some instances be desirable that the owner/beneficiary not undertake the maintenance but it is done by trained and competent persons.

Social franchising partnerships would be very well suited to this.

Conclusions

The social franchising partnership concept has proven highly successful in incentivising a professional approach. On the one hand, restructuring the relationship between the user, client and service provider transforms an often-neglected essential service into a contracted service. On the other hand, the contract between franchisor and franchisee offers a stable relationship, as opposed to the larger entity hiring or partnering with people who simply leave if alternative employment is offered. Professionalising these services not only creates job opportunities and encourages small entrepreneurs to move into this sector, but also gives individuals a reason to take pride in having a career which may otherwise carry the stigma of being undignified and unrewarded. (Box 2) The driving force behind success is the franchisees’ incentive to achieve set standards, get paid when they achieve these standards, and grow their own businesses.

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Nocawe Lupuwana Among the first to accept the opportunity was Nocawe Lupuwana, a former teacher from Butterworth. Since 2009 she has been running her own microbusiness and giving other people jobs while helping resolve the chronic sanitation problem of many schools around East London and her home town.

Until Nocawe, Gary Sixaso, Phoka Jantjies and the other brand-new franchisee service providers intervened, the situation in most of the schools was dire. “We provide two services”, explains Nocawe. “One is cleaning the existing structures and teaching pupils and educators about cleanliness and hygiene. The other service involves sucking up the “black water” which fills many of the toilets, making them unusable.”

“We have become change agents not just in the schools but also in the communities, because when the children go home they tell their parents about what has happened at the school, and how the household toilet facilities, and their use, should improve.”

Says Nocawe: “I have also become a job creator, and through my employees’ work they are able to put food on the table for their families.”

Reinforcing this arrangement are systems, managed by the franchisor, which ensure quality control over the operations, sustainability through economically viable pricing systems, and responsible health and safety and environmental management systems. Finally, it is important to note that the social franchising partnerships for infrastructure operation and/or maintenance concept addresses the requirements of many of South Africa’s national goals, particularly:

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• development of skills in the workplace, • job creation at the lowest economic levels where unemployment is highest and workplace skills very limited, • microbusiness creation and nurturing, • broad-based black economic empowerment, and • infrastructure and service delivery, through infrastructure maintenance activities that increase the quality and reliability of services, and the availability and utility of infrastructure.

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References

• • •

• • •

• • • •

Bhagwan J. (2012). Comments made at the national stakeholders’ workshop of the Ministerial Sanitation Task Team, Midrand, 11 April 2012.

Chauke P. (2012). Comments made at the national stakeholders’ workshop of the Ministerial Sanitation Task Team, Midrand, 11 April 2012.

Department of Trade and Industry, South African Photovoltaic Industry Association, World Wildlife Fund. (2013). “The localisation potential of photovoltaics (PV) and a strategy to support large scale roll-out in South Africa. Integrated report.” March 2013.

Department of Water Affairs. (2012a). 2012 Blue Drop Report: South African Drinking Water Quality Management Performance.

Department of Water Affairs. (2012b). 2012 Green Drop Progress Report: South African Waste Water Quality Management Performance.

Department of Water Affairs, The Presidency: Department: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Department of Human Settlements (2012c). Sanitation services—quality of sanitation in South Africa. Report on the status of sanitation services in South Africa.

Executive summary. March 2012. (2012c) Dobrowsky P. H. et al. (2014) “Quality assessment and primary uses of harvested rainwater in Kleinmond, South Africa.” Water SA, July 2014, p. 405.

South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE). (2011). SAICE infrastructure report card for South Africa 2011. Midrand.

Van Wyk, L. (2014). Personal communication, July 2014.

Wall K. and Ive, O. (2013). Social franchising partnerships for operation and maintenance of water services: Lessons and experiences from an Eastern Cape pilot. WRC report No. TT 564/13, Water Research Commission.

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PROFILE CASE STUDY

Established in 2006, Seda Construction Incubator (SCI) is a public benefit organisation mandated to develop and mentor emerging construction companies in South Africa.

The core business of SCI is to develop emerging contractors through the infusion of both technical and business administration skills that are aligned with the introduction of technology in order to enhance the efficiency of managing their businesses.

The Incubator is aimed at providing support to selected participants for a period of 2/3 years, by which time each emerging contractor should have advanced by at least one financial level above their entry point on the CIDB register and should thereafter be capable of operating unassisted in the open market. If a particular contractor does not wish to advance more than one CIDB financial grading, an alternative primary indicator will be agreed on, possibly “gross income/turnover” with multiple smaller projects that are considered to be the niche market for that particular contractor.

The involvement of SCI can make a significant impact with regards to finding more solutions around the skills shortage as well as addressing other challenges faced by emerging contractors in South Africa. We have received a consensus amongst the majority of our client bodies that the model offers a good strategy to assist emerging contractors, with a level of formality that is widely acknowledged and appreciated.

Business Name: Siyagandaya Construction & Cleaning Projects Business type: Construction

CIDB grading: 1 GB PE, 1CE PE

Background: Siyagandaya Construction and Cleaning Projects started operating on the 10th of December 2010, since then it has been involved in a number of construction projects as both a sub-contractor and as a managing contractor. The business is owned and managed by three dynamic individuals, with a primary ambition to grow the business into the service provider of choice. Siyagandaya Construction recently supplied, delivered and erected the fencing of the Shota Project; which amounted to R 91’986.07; they are also busy with the Nazoke Projects fencing to the value of R 89’986.07. They joined Seda Construction Incubator mentorship programme on the 1st of November 2013.

Challenges before joining SCI: • Site technical issues • Not understanding financials • Problem with pricing and tendering SCI Interventions: • Relevant guidance through workshops and training • Day to day consultation with Mentors • Unlimited site support • Unlimited exposure to more tender opportunities • Daily business development support

PROFILE CASE STUDY Business Name: Mdeke Constructing and Trading cc.

Business type: Construction

CIDB grading: 3GB PE, 1 CE PE

Background: Mdeke Constructing and Trading cc is 100% young Black owned, founded

by Lindelani Brian Makhaye in 2007 and has been in operation since January 2010. With limited knowledge of the industry, Lindelani Brian Makhaye began attending numerous workshops and training to gain insight and experience on how to market and manage a construction company. To date the company has been operating in the formal construction market and has successfully completed several projects within the given time frame.

Challenges before joining SCI: • Little understanding of contractual agreements resulting in financial loss • Problems with pricing tender documents • Technical site issues • Desperately needing office space SCI Interventions: • Daily business development support and office space • The company was exposed to information sessions and workshops • Supported site visits • Daily tender notices • Assistance in compiling proposal documents, tender submissions • Building relationships between the company and its clients • Compliancy regulations Results/Outcomes: • Increased understanding of how to run a construction business • Contribution towards KZN Economy • Saving money which could have been consumed by penalties • Financial growth

GREENING WASTE MANAGEMENT

Dr Linda Godfrey

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T

he Waste Sector, as with many sectors of the economy, is responding to the call to transition to a Green Economy.

Globally, waste management is changing from one of ‘collect-transport-dispose’, to one of ‘secondary resource management’, driven by issues of population growth and urbanisation; increasing quantity and complexity of waste; climate change; carbon economics; resource scarcity; commodity prices; energy security; globalisation; job creation; and tightening regulation (DST, 2014a). Countries are moving waste up the waste management hierarchy away from landfilling towards waste prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery. According to the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA, 2012:5), around “70% of the municipal waste produced worldwide is driven to dumpsites and sanitary landfills, 11% is treated in thermal and Waste-to-Energy ( WtE) facilities and the remaining 19% is recycled or treated by Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT), including composting.”

The waste management hierarchy has been written into South African waste legislation, and while South Africa currently recycles approximately 25% of municipal solid waste (MSW), the move away from landfilling towards reuse, recycling and recovery is only starting to gain traction in municipalities and industries. This is possibly due to the fact that most of the recycling in South Africa, as like most developing countries, has been driven by an informal sector in need of a source of income, and not, until recently, the conscious intentions of local government or business (GIZ, 2011; Wilson et al., 2013).

Trends in waste management

While waste recycling and recovery is growing, the level of progression, the approach, and the associated technology

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portfolio, varies between countries.

As shown in Figure 1, a comparison of approaches to managing MSW between EU member states, highlights differing levels of progression up the waste hierarchy, as well as varying ratios of recycling (materials recovery) to energy recovery.

Some countries have prioritised thermal treatment, with a large percentage of their waste being sent for energy recovery and incineration (without energy), while other countries have prioritised recovery other than energy (e.g. recycling of waste).

While differences in waste management approaches (technology mix) exist between, for example, EU member states, the EU, as with most developed countries, is showing a move away from waste disposal to resource recovery (other than energy) (recycling) and energy recovery (Eurostat, 2013). Countries such as the Italy, Germany, Denmark and Belgium have managed to reduce the quantity of waste disposed to land to less than 20% (Figure 1).

The aim of moving waste up the hierarchy is to recover valuable resources from the waste, such as polymers, fibre, ferrous- and non-ferrous metals, etc., and re-introduce them back into the economy. As the use of WtE technologies grows and becomes part of the standard technology portfolio of a country, there is increasing debate around the trade-off between recycling and energy recovery.

From a circular economy and resource recovery philosophy, WtE should be seen as a complementary technology to recycling, with the approach to integrated waste management being one of firstly waste prevention, followed by maximising waste reuse and recycling and finally recovery, including energy recovery (REA, 2011; DEFRA, 2013a). WtE technologies are therefore typically concerned with recovering energy from residual waste, once

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Figure 1. Approaches to municipal solid waste management (from DST, 2014a) all economically viable recyclables have been removed (DEFRA, 2013). If countries are successful in achieving the top orders of the waste hierarchy, potentially less residual waste will be available for energy recovery.

As pointed out by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) “Government’s aim is to get the most energy out of residual waste, rather than to get the most waste into energy recovery” (DEFRA, 2013: 22).

The move towards increased recycling and recovery is not only evident in developed countries. Many developing countries in Africa, South America and Asia are actively pursuing alternative waste management options, which are focussed on increased materials and energy recovery through increased recycling and recovery.

China is also driving this trend towards increased recycling and recovery. The 12th five-year plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China (2011–2015) (CBI, 2011; China Briefing, 2012) has identified two specific

areas of socio-economic development relating to waste: • Cultivating and developing strategic emerging industries, one of which focuses on an energy conservation and environmental protection industry, including recycling, and • Vigorously developing a circular economy, including implementing circular production methods; enhancing the circular use of resources and recycling systems; popularising the green consumption model; and strengthening policy and technical support China’s focus areas for waste recycling are very similar to those of developed countries and include (China Briefing, 2012): • waste recycling and recovery of metals (i.e. scrap metal, waste electronics, used electro-mechanical products) and plastic (recycled polymer), • recycling of large industrial waste streams, e.g. fly ash, gypsum, mining waste, etc., and

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• energy recovery from waste, e.g. domestic and industrial waste, and sewage sludge.

Large industrial and municipal waste streams are particularly under the spotlight for reuse and recycling given the significant volumes generated annually, and the potential for social and environmental impacts. South Africa is no different, producing large volumes of mining and power generation waste, and construction and demolition waste. The potential for valuable product recovery and reuse applications in road building or alternative construction materials, using these waste streams, is being explored, but much more can be done to increase the quantities being recycled.

Waste as secondary resource

Countries are recognising the value of waste as secondary resource, and the potential impact that the loss of resources, through disposal to landfill, can have on the economy. The European Union has, for example, identified 14 critical materials, many of them metals, which show a high supply risk and which could constrain future economic and technological development within the region. The recovery of these materials through, for example, the recycling of electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE), or through urban mining, is seen as a means of securing supplies of rare metals and other critical resources (EEA, 2011).

Within the EU recycling meets a substantial proportion of the demand for resources such as paper and cardboard, as well as iron and steel.

Research conducted by the CSIR for the Department of Science and Technology (DST), suggests that the value of waste that could potentially be recovered and recycled

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back into the economy was approximately R25.2 billion (in 2012) of which only R8.2 billion was being recovered (DST, 2014b).

The calculations were based on the price paid by recyclers to collectors for 13 different waste streams, and is considered a conservative estimate of the resource value that is locked-up in waste and which is currently lost to the South African economy.

Further downstream economic benefits of the recyclate into the manufacturing sector, including job creation potential, were not considered in the research, but are expected to significantly increase the value of waste to the economy. There is no data available on the multiplier effect of the South African recycling industry into the downstream manufacturing sector or the recyclingreliant industry, both in terms of revenue and jobs (direct, indirect and induced), however, data for other countries suggests that this may be significant at 1.5–2.5 times.

Greening the South African waste sector

A recent Waste Sector Survey conducted by the CSIR on behalf of the DST reflects the current transition or greening of the South African waste sector (DST, 2013).

The results show diversity in private waste sector activities across the waste value chain (Figure 2), while municipalities show a leaning towards city cleansing, waste collection and disposal, in line with their constitutional mandate with respect to waste management. Some municipalities indicated that recycling activities (sorting/ separating and/or reprocessing/recycling) are being undertaken within their municipality; however, the municipalities often indicated that these activities were being undertaken by private companies or individuals. Figures 2 and 3 do however show the complementary relationship between the private and public sectors.

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Figure 2: Service rendered by private enterprises along the waste value chain

Figure 3: Service rendered by municipalities along the waste value chain Where services are low for municipalities, the private sector has identified these as areas of opportunity and is responding to them.

When it comes to waste type, the results (Figures 4 and 5) show the full spectrum of waste types handled by the private waste sector, and a focus on municipal waste by the public sector. As with services rendered, some municipalities indicated that recyclables were being handled within their municipality, however, municipalities often indicated that these activities were being undertaken by private companies or individuals. Figures 4 and 5 also show the complementary relationship between the private and public sectors with regards to the types of waste handled. Where certain wastes have not been handled by municipalities, the private sector has

identified these waste streams as areas of opportunity and is responding to them.

The lowest activity in terms of the number of organisations handling specific waste streams are related to power generation waste (12.9%), tyres (17.3%), construction and demolition waste (18.0%) and mining waste (23.0%). This is somewhat surprising, since mining and power generation waste make up two of the largest waste streams in South Africa (by volume). Furthermore, construction and demolition (C&D) waste makes up a considerable volume of general waste to landfills (20% by mass) (DEA, 2012).

When it comes to waste technologies in use, the results show an adoption of alternative technology solutions (not only landfilling) by the private waste sector, however, municipalities still rely very heavily

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Bio Sewage Systems (BSS) are not only simple, robust and environmentally friendly, but also have numerous benefits, namely: Low energy consumption, Low plant maintenance, Production of clean, clear, water from black and grey water.

Economical, Odourless, Chemical free.

This water can be used for irrigation, watering holes for game, to suppress dust, and to wash vehicles.

Bio Sewage Systems have been installed throughout Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

Contact Details.

Head Office: Tel: +27 (82) 414 - 4900 - E-mail: leon@biosewage.co.za Gauteng: Mobile: +27 (76) 151- 7370 – E-mail: raymond@biosewage.co.za Maputo: Mobile: +25 (84) 305 – 9940 – E-mail: biomoz@technomoz.com Western Cape: Mobile: +27 (76) 420 – 9340 – E- Mail: kevi@biosewage.co.za

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on landfilling as the primary solution for the management of waste. It would appear that biological treatment (e.g. composting, anaerobic digestion) is not utilised extensively amongst respondents. The technology option remains under-utilised given that large quantities of biomass waste are being produced by industry. An estimated 66% of general waste generated in South Africa is organic waste (municipal and industrial biomass) (DEA, 2012).

GREENING WASTE MANAGEMENT

Employing some 29 833 people, the formal South African waste sector (public and private) had a minimum financial value (for 2012) of R15.3 billion, up from the estimated R10 billion in 2009. The 2012 sector value equates to approximately 0.51% of national GDP. Based on trends in other countries, and with investment in the sector, the South African Government is confident that the waste sector could grow to 1.0–1.5% of GDP.

Figure 4: Types of waste handled by private enterprises

Figure 5: Types of waste handled by municipalities • •

Where ‘R:’ in the above graphs indicates potentially recyclable waste streams. HCRW—health care risk waste; R:C&D waste—construction and demolition waste; R:E-w—electronic waste Note that type of waste handled does not in any way relate to the quantities (tonnages) of waste handled, simply the number of organisations handling this type of waste.

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Figure 9: Current technology options in use within the private waste sector

Figure 10: Current technology options in use within the municipalities

The results of the recent 2011 waste baseline study (DEA, 2012), and industry market study (BMI, 2013), showed that while recycling figures are high for some waste streams, there is still much to be done to increase waste recycling and recovery in South Africa (Table 1).

Conclusions

The results of research conducted on the South African waste sector shows that significant opportunity still exists for further greening of the South African waste sector, both in terms of increased materials recovery (recycling), and for certain complex

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or problematic waste streams, residual energy recovery (WtE). The focus must be on waste prevention in the first place.

However, where waste cannot be avoided, increased recycling and recovery can result in a greater flow of resources back into the local economy, rather than to landfill, with the potential to benefit both revenue and jobs.

This will require investment and support by both government and industry. With an expected growth from 0.5% of GDP to 1.0–1.5% of GDP, the waste sector has the potential to significantly contribute to the greening of the South African economy.

3 General waste

% Recycled in 2011 (DEA, 2012)

Packaging Materials % Recycled in 2012 recycling technology, 25 June 2012. (only)Available online(BMI, 2013) http://www.china-

waste 35% • Organic CBI (Confederation of British Industry) (2011). The twelfth five-year plan Construction and economic 16% for national and social demolition waste of the People’s Republic development of China (English translation). Available Paper 57% online at http://cbi.typepad.com/ china_direct/2011/05/chinas-twelfthPlastic 18% five-new-plan-the-full-english-version. html [Last accessed 19 December 2013].

32% China releases • GlassChina Briefing (2012).

12th five-year plan for waste Metals 80%

-

Tyres

-

4%

b r i e f i n g. co m / n- e w s / 2 0 1 2 / 0 6 / 2 5 / china-releases-12th-five-year-plan-forwaste-recycling-technology.html [Last accessed 17 December 2013].

• DEA (Department of Environmental PaperAffairs) (Pack & Print) (2012).59.6% National waste information baseline report – Final, 14 PlasticNovember packaging 2012. 33.5% • DEFRA (Department for Environment, Glass Food and Rural Affairs) 39.2% (2013). Energy from Waste: A guide to the debate.

Metal 64.5%

Table 1. Recycling rates of selected waste streams in South Africa

•

•

•

•

•

• •

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References

Available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/221036/pb13889-incineration-municipal-waste.pdf [Last accessed 17 December 2013].

DST (Department of Science and Technology) (2013). South African Waste Sector—2012.

An analysis of the formal private and public waste sector in South Africa. A National Waste RDI Roadmap for South Africa: Phase 1 Status Quo Assessment. Department of Science and Technology: Pretoria.

DST (Department of Science and Technology) (2014a). A National Waste R&D and Innovation Roadmap for South Africa: Phase 2 Waste RDI Roadmap. Trends in Waste Management. Department of Science and Technology: Pretoria.

DST (Department of Science and Technology) (2014b). A National Waste R&D and Innovation Roadmap for South Africa: Phase 2 Waste RDI Roadmap. The economic benefits of moving up the waste management hierarchy in South Africa: The value of resources lost through landfilling. Department of Science and Technology: Pretoria EEA (European Environment Agency). (2011). Earnings, jobs and innovation: The role of recycling in a green economy. European Environment Agency: Report no. 8/2011.

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Union GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) (2011). Recovering resources, creating opportunities. Integrating the informal sector into solid waste management. GIZ: Germany.

ISWA (International Solid Waste Association) (2012). Globalisation and waste management. Phase 1 Concept and Facts.

Wilson D.C., Velis C.A. and Rodic L. (2013). Integrated sustainable waste management —the concept, challenges and realities in developing countries. Proceedings of the ICE—Waste and Resource Management, 166(2): 52-68.

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Together, Moving Gauteng City Region Forward PROVINCIAL PROFILE

Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development

Ensuring South Africa’s economic growth

T

he Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) plays a critical role in our country’s economic growth.

It was created in 2009, when the Gauteng Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works was split into two distinct departments, each with their own mandate. The DID works to implement the Gauteng Provincial Government’s (GPG) capital expenditure budget allocation and other infrastructure projects that utilise sole or joint GPG financial investments. It also maximises the social and economic benefits of the GPG’s property portfolio, and implements the policies of BroadBased Black Economic Empowerment and preferential procurement, in line with the approved targets.

These are responsibilities that Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, the Gauteng MEC of Infrastructure Development, takes seriously.

“The department’s vision is to be a leading infrastructure provider and facilitator that positions Gauteng as a globally competitive city region with a sustainable and growing

economy,” confirms Mayathula-Khoza, a Soweto-born political leader and advocate of women’s rights.

The National Development Plan (NDP) places infrastructure development at the top of the agenda for the promotion of growth and development of South Africa.

Furthermore, it commits to increasing the investment into infrastructure development by 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The decision to have infrastructure development as a separate portfolio was informed by the significant role that the provision and maintenance of public infrastructure plays in the socio-economic development and growth of the province.

Initially facing significant challenges, the DID received a qualified audit opinion in the 2009/2010 financial year. At the time it was clear that it would have to take giant leaps to fulfil its mandate.

“During the 2010/2011 financial year, the DID took great strides to mitigate the previous audit findings and was rewarded with an unqualified audit. A lot of work still

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needed to be done, however, and during the 2011/2012 financial year the department placed strong emphasis on tracking deliverables to ensure innovative methods to best deliver services to our people at a much faster pace,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

“A significant achievement was the reduction in accruals, which have been on a steady and commendable downward trend for the past three financial years. In 2011/2012 accruals were R159-million, of which R100-million related to invoices received in March 2012 as the financial year drew to a close,” she adds. Supply chain management policies were put in place during the 2012/2013 financial year and the roles within the value chain were clearly defined to further improve efficiencies. The DID again achieved an unqualified audit during the 2012/2013 financial year.

Natalspruit Hospital

Ten-pillar programme In his State of the Province Address, Gauteng Premier David Makhura announced the fifth administration’s 10-pillar programme of radical transformation, modernisation and the re-industrialisation of Gauteng over the next five to 15 years.

“This programme needed to be put in place in response to the persistent challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality facing our people, and their cry for faster positive change and a more people-centred administration,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

The DID revised its five-year strategy to align with the new mandate and identified strategic priorities for the 2014/2015 financial year. The current financial year sees the DID focussing on property development; the immovable

Together, Moving Gauteng City Region Forward PROVINCIAL PROFILE

MEC for Gauteng Infrastructure Development, Ms Nandi Mayathula-Khoza with the MEC for Education, Mr Panyaza Lesufi, officially opening the Peter Zongwane Primary School in Thembisa, Ekurhuleni.

asset register; a maintenance turn-around strategy; smart classroom designs; standard health infrastructure designs; EPWP’s Zivuseni reloaded; implementation of the Infrastructure Development Management System (IDMS); The Planning House; the Gauteng Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan as well as continued roll-out of the Green Agenda.

As the implementing agent for all provincial infrastructure capital projects except roads and infrastructure, across all departments, the DID is responsible for the maintenance of all of Gauteng’s infrastructure, which it does via a welldefined maintenance programme. “We manage the provincial property portfolio and asset management. More importantly, however, we implement and coordinate the Expanded Public Works Programme

(EPWP) so as to enhance skills development and optimise decent employment and entrepreneurship,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

The DID has addressed deficiencies by implementing the turnkey project management and building its internal technical capacity for project planning, which has revolutionised the time taken for the delivery of schools with all amenities.

It reduced turnaround times from 12–18 months (2010/2011) to eight months (2011/2012) and more recently three to four months (2012/2013).

“In addition, the department has developed and refined prototype designs for school infrastructure and rolled out turnkey construction methodology, resulting in cost reductions and the speedy delivery of school infrastructure,” MayathulaKhoza confirms.

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During the 2013/2014 financial year, the DID completed key education infrastructure projects including 38 restorative repairs, four fencing projects, 37 Grade R classrooms and 17 ablution facilities; and the construction of seven out of 14 new schools were completed across the province. These are the Chief Albert Luthuli Primary School (Daveyton) and Palm Ridge/Eden Park Secondary School, both in Ekurhuleni; the Soshanguve WW Primary School, Steve Bikoville Primary School (Hammanskraal) and Lotus Gardens Primary School, all in Tshwane; and the Noordwyk and Northriding secondary schools in Johannesburg.

The DID’s Smart School Project is ensuring that new classrooms are smart, eco-friendly and sustainable. Designed in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Education, each block of classrooms is devoted to a particular category of learners, with Grade R on its own and then the foundation phase, intermediate phase and senior grades.

The learning facilities include specialised laboratories for science, geography and biology and a library. Other supporting facilities include a nutrition centre, which features a kitchen and a canteen.

Green sustainable development concepts were utilised when constructing the schools including South African Robust System, which replaces brick and mortar with light concrete and steel reinforcements.

Other features include a rain harvesting tank, six millimetre grazing for energy, solar powered geysers and thermally responsive walls which are warm in winter and cooler in summer.

“I am privileged to have joined the MEC for Education in the opening of three schools so far. At each opening we were

delighted by the reception we received from the community that helped to build each school and their joy in now having a school in their area,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

The DID’s organisational structure was reviewed and aligned to the Infrastructure Development Management System (IDMS) model, the department’s core operating model which requires substantive investment in the development of technical capacity. “We are committed to strengthening our technical expertise and bolstering the development of scarce skills such as artisans, engineers and technicians, to radically improve the execution of construction and maintenance projects,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

The GPG initiated the development of a Planning House that will enable all stakeholders to visualise the future development of Gauteng. The development will be done in phases and will include architectural design competition; detailed designs; construction and commissioning.

Collaborative work with the Gauteng Planning Commission (GPC) is at an advanced stage to establish Africa’s first ever Planning House in Gauteng. Strategic planning is complete and work is underway to commence negotiations to acquire land for the facility and develop a design model.

A green agenda

The department is rolling out Green Agenda initiatives which are part of climate sustainable infrastructure, change mitigation and adaptation strategies as well as the green and smart economy.

The programme incorporates the rooftop solar panel roll-out project, which will simultaneously address existing constraints

Together, Moving Gauteng City Region Forward PROVINCIAL PROFILE

of land and power supply; the energy efficiency retrofit project and the hospital affordable clean energy project, which sees the department replacing coal fired boilers with natural gas and redesigning its infrastructure prototypes to align with green building standards. The recently opened Noordwyk and Northriding Secondary Schools feature 55 meter solar farms, which are set to minimise electricity costs and combat the effects of load shedding by reducing dependency on the grid. When functioning optimally, the solar farms will generate an average of 9 000 kilowatts hours a month, which is roughly enough electricity to power 72 households for a year.

The schools are also designed to maximise natural lighting.

“The Green Agenda will drive energy efficiency and the use of renewable and clean energy sources, thus reducing the provincial government’s carbon footprint.

It’s also geared to create jobs and promote

entrepreneurship, by establishing local manufacturing and assembly plants,” Mayathula-Khoza confirms.

24/7/365 e-Maintenance Strategy

The DID’s diagnosis of infrastructure-related challenges at health facilities suggested a proactive approach to its maintenance regime and a rapid response to breakdowns.

It thus developed the 24/7/365 Maintenance Strategy that commits it to attending to minor breakdowns within 24 hours, major breakdowns within seven days and to carrying out major refurbishments within 365 days.

At the heart of this strategy was the deployment of skilled professionals, including artisans, engineers, technicians and inspectors at hospital level. “One of the critical elements of the 24/7/365 Strategy is the provision of tools of trade to all DID artisans including cell phones, toolboxes

Renewable energy: Solar panels at the Noordwyk Secondary School delivered by the Department of Infrastructure Development.

Zola-Jabulani Hospital

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and vehicles—this process was initiated in October 2013.”

A ‘game changing’ development in the sector was the launch of the eMaintenance system, which was piloted at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in June 2013.

The eMaintenance system enables any member of the public, and not just hospital staff, to log any maintenance issue via the maintenance reception at the facility, SMS, the website or on social media.

“The eMaintenance system has been a resounding success within the Department of Health, with 22 561 defects logged by hospital and clinic staff and the DID being able to fix and close 11 930 (53%) of these by 16 July 2014,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

“The maintenance backlog in the eMaintenance system has assisted management to identify the bottlenecks and opportunities for efficiencies in its processes and human resources, such as a shortage of chief artisans and inspectors;

Natalspruit Hospital

the incorrect placement of staff, especially painters and carpenters; and an inefficient method of scheduling preventative maintenance programmes,” she adds.

The GPG insists on the provision of modern, community-centred, technologically innovative and financially sustainable infrastructure and the DID is meeting this mandate with the provision of its recently completed healthcare and education facilities.

“They rival the best in the world, thus making South Africa a respectable member of the community of nations,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

Its flagship projects—the R730-million Zola-Jabulani District Hospital in Soweto and the Natalspruit Hospital—account well for the department’s achievement of this critical mandate.

The Zola-Jabulani District Hospital is a three-storey building, with 300 beds and a Gateway Clinic. The supporting outbuildings

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include four workshops, laundry, bulk-store, kitchen, waste management, substation, security facility and mortuary. It will alleviate the pressure on Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and will improve access to health services in the region. The project saw 2 052 community members trained and employed, as well as eight local entrepreneurs appointed.

The Natalspruit Hospital is a four-storey building, with 821 beds, six operating theatres and a laminar flow theatre. The hospital boasts the latest in health care facilities, including the general surgery (adult and paediatric); specialised surgery; medical (adult and paediatric); gynaecology, obstetrics, kangaroo and secondary trimester TOP; paediatrics; orthopaedics; an operating theatre unit; burns unit; spinal

Natalspruit Hospital

unit; rehabilitation unit; ICU and High Care; psychiatry; TB and step-down.

“It is the finest facility and a class act with attributes that are top in their categories.

The hospital demonstrates the GPG’s level of technical precision,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

Job creation

Job creation is an integral part of South Africa’s efforts to join the global drive towards sustainable development. To this end, the GPG aims to create more than one million job opportunities by 2019, to contribute national governments 6 million job opportunities by 2019.

The DID is rolling out the Zivuseni Reloaded Poverty Alleviation Programme, which targets 4 000 beneficiaries this financial year, and focuses on various projects including minor maintenance services (hospitals and clinics); the environment; culture; water and sanitation and social development.

“Through the EPWP Programme, the DID will play a leading role in Gauteng to ensure that the creation of Tshepo 500 000 jobs, as undertaken by the Premier, is achieved,” Mayathula-Khoza confirms.

The NDP has highlighted initiatives such as Expanded Vocational Education as a strategic response to youth employment.

The DID implements the EPWP, the National Youth Service (NYS) and Accelerated Artisan Training Programme (AATP) as platforms to promote skills development and develop work experience. According to the State of the Province Address, the EPWP is expected to increase work opportunities in Gauteng from 151 000 to 196 000 in this financial year.

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About 2 500 youth from all over Gauteng converged at the Turffontien Racecourse in Johannesburg on 13 October for a breakfast with the MEC after a year of technical skills training at the DID. Mayathula-Khoza honoured these young people and also launched the second intake of the DID’s NYS. “The NYS programme is part of the Zivuseni Programme—a poverty alleviation programme based on the notion of creating short-term work opportunities for specific target groups in Gauteng. We are very proud of the achievements and the conduct of these young people. They make it possible for us to make a noticeable dent in the fight against employment and poverty,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

“The GPG is mindful of the impact of the shortage of skills, especially in the built environment. It is with full appreciation of how daunting this challenge is and how profound its impact is felt within our society that we developed the NYS Programme,” she adds. In early October, at a summit to boost the economy of townships, the Premier announced that in the next five years R1-billion would be spent on building and improving the infrastructure of township economies, with R160-million already pledged.

“We are going to double the province’s GDP in five years, with 30% of that growth coming from township economies,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

“The NYS is geared to move thousands of young people out of the poverty trap, because it provides long-term and effective ways of reconstructing South African society by developing the abilities of young people through service and learning. Each of these

The Alternative Construction Method maximises the delivery of schooling infrastructure in the Gauteng Province.

elements need to be seen as part of an integrated whole—each element builds onto and feeds into the other.

“The model is based on the idea that young people require interventions that address the personal, social and economic aspects of their lives in an holistic manner,” she adds. All new facilities, going forward, will incorporate a Wi-Fi platform to ensure content and sustainable connectivity.

This will benefit immediate communities and reduce the need for travel time for internet connectivity. These initiatives are supported by broadband infrastructure developed by the City of Tshwane and the City of Johannesburg.

Monitoring dashboard

Working towards a seamless infrastructure roll-out plan to improve project

Together, Moving Gauteng City Region Forward PROVINCIAL PROFILE implementation and monitoring and to ensure the modernisation of the public service, the department’s implementing a monitoring dashboard to monitor the delivery of its various projects daily, during all of their stages, from planning and supply chain management to completion and works hand over.

The monitoring dashboard will inform on planning status; supply chain and procurement status; project expenditure; cash flow forecasts; timelines and milestones; status-quo and progress; progress visuals; project portfolio of evidence tender adverts.

“The dashboard will serve as a ‘Project Eye’ which will meticulously monitor the delivery of all project infrastructures and thus enforce the transparent reporting on projects. The establishment of the dashboard is complete and the uploading of data and implementation has now been completed,” says Mayathula-Khoza.

Looking ahead, the DID will continue in its mission to facilitate service delivery through the development, construction and management of public infrastructure to optimise the creation of decent jobs and the promotion of a better life for all.

“I am pleased that I am part of the team that each day ensures that the lives of our people change for the better. I am content that we are working with them to achieve this.

Our people are still trapped in poverty, unemployment and inequality and are excluded from the mainstream economy.

That’s why we are determined to revitalise and mainstream the township economy by supporting the development of township enterprises, cooperatives and SMMEs,” she concludes.

THE LEADER BEHIND THE TITLE Mayathula-Khoza, a married mother of four, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree, a Diploma in Education from the University of Swaziland (1987) and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Witwatersrand (1991).

She also attained a Certificate in Development Management and Facilitation from the University of Witwatersrand (1998); a Certificate on Democracy and Local Governance from the Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency (2003); a Municipal Management Development Programme Certificate from the University of Pretoria and ANC Political School (2004); has passed all theory work for her Master’s Degree in Public Development and Management.

She is soon to complete her dissertation.

A science, maths and geography educator by profession, Mayathula-Khoza taught at the Uwezo College in Johannesburg from 1987 to 1989 and then worked as a writer

Together, Moving Gauteng City Region Forward PROVINCIAL PROFILE

of educational material for UNISA and Khanya College until 1990. The next rung on the ladder was that of a community development facilitator for nongovernmental organisation, Community Based Education Programme, where she was promoted to the post of Managing Director. Inspired by her late father and priest, Castro Mayathula, who fought for freedom and her mother and teacher, Monica, Mayathula-Khoza joined the June 16 student march against Bantu education and the usage of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction when she was just 14 years old.

As a student in exile in the late 1970s, she became a communications link and a courier of ‘subversive material’ and funding for the then underground and banned ANC. Forced to return home after the passing away of her parents in the late 1980s, she participated in the structures and networks of people’s power against apartheid, including street committees, SANCO and UDF. After the unbanning of the ANC, Mayathula-Khoza was one of the founding members of the ANC’s Senaoane branch.

She served as a Branch Secretary from 1990 to 1995 and was elected to become the Soweto Sub-region’s Deputy Secretary, before becoming a member of the ANC Joburg Regional Executive Committee and a member of the ANC Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee. She is currently serving as the member of the ANC Provincial Executive Committee and Women’s League Provincial Executive Committee and has also been an active member of the ANC Mzala branch since 1996.

Due to her political and community activism, Mayathula-Khoza was deployed as a local government Councillor at the Greater Joburg Metro Transitional Council in 1994. She chaired the Tenders Committee and participated in many other committees during this transition period. From 1997 to 2000, she became the second female Mayor of Soweto. Apart from chairing council meetings, she also focused on community participation and women’s socio-economic empowerment.

From 2000 to 2006, she became the first Speaker of the Joburg Metro Council and developed the Institution of a Council Speaker from scratch. Apart from Chairing the Council of 209 multiparty councillors, she chaired a women’s caucus and also promoted gender and women’s empowerment.

From 2006 to 2009, she became the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development and was part of the team that had an oversight role on the successful preparation for the Soccer World Cup. From 2009 to 2014, she was deployed to the Gauteng Provincial Government as an MEC responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, including environment. During this period she was recognised by the African Farmer’s Association of South Africa for being the best MEC in supporting emerging and small holder farmers, despite a very small budget.

From 2012 to 2014, Mayathula-Khoza also took on the added responsibility as an MEC for Social Development and she is currently deployed as the MEC for Infrastructure Development.

SOLAR ELECTRICITY FOR BUILDINGS Wim Jonker Klunne

This chapter will reflect on the use of solar electricity for houses and commercial buildings and looks into the options available and how to determine what type of system is required.

SOLAR ELECTRICITY

4

The benefits There are different reasons why building users and owners might go for solar electricity, depending on the nature of the building itself, its usages and very importantly its location.

Buildings that are located in areas where grid electricity is not available might have to revert to alternative ways of providing the energy needs of the building and its users. Solar electricity might be one of these options.

For buildings (already) connected to the electricity grid, solar energy might be beneficial for a number of reasons: • reducing the costs of energy provision by generating own electricity that can be used instead of electricity bought from the utility (in the South African context either ESKOM or the local municipality), • becoming self-sufficient and no longer depending on the availability of the grid, • reducing the carbon footprint of electricity used, and • the availability of subsidies, rebates, tax incentives, feed in tariffs etc. that make an investment in solar electricity viable.

The technology

Solar Photovoltaic cells, or PV cells in short, convert sunlight directly into electricity. The term photovoltaic refers to the process of converting light (photons) to electricity (voltage). This photovoltaic effect was discovered in 1954 by scientists at Bell Telephone, who found that silicon (an element found in sand) created an electric charge when exposed to sunlight (Chapin, Fuller et al, 1954). Very important is the distinction between solar PV systems that produce electricity and thermal solar systems, like solar water heaters, that produce heat and no electricity.

Solar electricity is produced using PV cells. Currently PV cells are manufactured

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from a variety of different types of materials, the most common being crystalline silicon. Apart from a wide range of more experimental materials, there are four main types of commercially available cells: • Crystalline Silicon (c-Si)—Monocrystalline, • Crystalline Silicon (c-Si)—Polycrystalline, • Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) Solar Cells, and • Thin-Film Solar Cells.

Crystalline Silicon (c-Si)

Almost 90% of the world’s photovoltaics today are based on some variation of silicon (Maehlum, 2013). In 2011, about 95% of all shipments by US manufacturers to the residential sector were crystalline silicon solar panels (EIA, 2013). The silicon used in PV takes many forms. The main difference is the purity of the silicon.

Solar cells made of monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si), also called singlecrystalline silicon (single-crystal-Si), are quite easily recognisable by an even colouring and uniform look; this indicates that it is high-purity silicon.

The first solar panels based on polycrystalline silicon, which also is known as polysilicon (p-Si) and multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si), were introduced to the market in 1981. A good way to distinguish between mono- and polycrystalline solar panels is that polycrystalline solar cells look perfectly rectangular with no rounded edges.

Thin-Film Solar Cells

Depositing one or several thin layers of photovoltaic material onto a substrate is the basic prinicple of how thin-film solar cells are manufactured. They are also known as thin-film photovoltaic cells (TFPV). The different types of thin-film solar cells can be categorised according to the photovoltaic material that is deposited onto the substrate: • Amorphous silicon (a-Si), • Cadmium telluride (CdTe),

4

SOLAR ELECTRICITY

Figure 1: Solar cell efficiencies (NREL, 2013)

• Copper indium gallium selenide (CIS/ CIGS), or • Organic photovoltaic cells (OPC).

Efficiencies

Monocrystalline PV cells have efficiencies of 13–17% and are the most efficient type of the three types of silicon PV cell (EvoEnergy, 2012).

However, they require more time and energy to produce than polycrystalline silicon PV cells, and are therefore slightly more expensive. This compares to efficiencies of 11–15% for mass-produced polycrystalline PV cells. Amorphous Silicon PV cells have an efficiency of between 6 and 8% and are typically not used in energy systems for buildings, but rather for devices which require very little power, such as

pocket calculators. Thin-film modules operate at about 9% efficiency. Figure 1 gives on overview of current and expected conversion efficiencies for different systems.

Solar PV Terminology

The basic element of a PV system is a solar cell in which the photovoltaic principle is used to generate electricity. Typically a number of these cells are packaged and connected to form a solar panel or solar module (see Figure 2). The size of a solar panel is normally expressed in terms of its electricity producing capability. The unit used for this is Wp (Watt peak), which is defined as power output under peak sunshine conditions (1 kW/m2), temperature of 25˚C and wind speed of 5 m/s. Although solar panels can be produced in any size, for

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SOLAR ELECTRICITY

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Figure 2: Elements of a solar PV system. household and building applications typical sizes are 50 Wp, 80 Wp, 100 Wp, 150 Wp and 240 Wp. Other important components of a PV system are: • Mounting equipment: equipment to mount the panels on the roof, wall, etc. This equipment can be used to direct the panels on the best angle to ensure maximum solar radiation.

Very importantly, this mounting equipment needs to be designed to withstand wind and other forces for the full lifespan of the panels (typically 20–25 years).

• DC-to-AC inverters: Inverters take the low-voltage, high-current signals from the PV panels and convert them into 240V AC, which is directly compatible with grid power.

• Utility power meters: this meter keeps track of the amount of power the PV system has delivered to the electricity grid and will be used to determine payments due to the owner of the system (if applicable).

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• Batteries: solar systems that are not connected to the electricity grid or designed to power the building during power blackouts are equipped with batteries that will store electricity for periods the sun is not shining (typically the evenings). The size of the battery system depends on the electricity demand that needs to be catered for during periods that the sun is not shining, as well as for extended periods of overcast weather (this is referred to as autonomy: a three days autonomy means that the battery system is designed to store an amount of electricity needed for three consecutive days).

Solar resource

The amount of solar energy that can be generated is dependent on the number of sun hours in a day and the intensity of the sun. Figure 3 gives an overview of the average annual solar radiation in South Africa.

The rate at which solar energy reaches a unit area at the earth is called the "solar

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SOLAR ELECTRICITY

Figure 3: Average annual solar radiation in South Africa (based on Scholes, Fairbanks et al, 1999).

irradiance" or "insolation". The units of measure for irradiance are Watts per square meter (W/m2). Solar irradiance is an instantaneous measure of rate and can vary over time.

Properly aiming modules due north with an appropriate tilt will maximise the solar energy that the PV array collects.

However, small variations of up to 15째 in orientation or tilt will not significantly affect performance. As a general rule, a tilt angle equal to the latitude of the site will maximise yearly performance.

The solar irradiation depends on a wide range of variables like dust and cloud cover, humidity and location. Detailed databases are available online of the solar regime at specific locations. Based on the tilt angle of the system and the size of the solar system to be used, average annual electricity generation can be calculated. Table 1 gives

an indication of the amount of electricity that can be generated by a 1 000 Wp system at various locations in South Africa.

Port Elizabeth

1 558 kWh/kWp/yr

Pretoria

1 700 kWh/kWp/yr

North Eastern Cape

1 850 kWh/kWp/yr

Karoo

1 880 kWh/kWp/yr

East London

1 620 kWh/kWp/yr

Table 1: Indication of expected output of solar PV in different locations in South Africa (Dyk 2013).

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Using solar PV to power a building When considering solar energy to provide power to a building some fundamental choices need to be made before a system is designed.

Grid tied or not? A totally off-grid system will need to be able to provide power to the building as and when needed, even during periods the sun is not shining.

This necessitates the use of energy storage devices like batteries to store electricity when it is produced and release it again when the electricity is required.

Grid-tied systems can feed any electricity generated in excess of the demand into the grid and draw energy when the demand exceeds production.

Maximum electricity demand expected. A good assessment needs to be made of the expected electricity demand profile of the building in order to size the PV system to be able to service that demand.

Available area for the solar system.

In certain cases the available space to put the solar PV panels is limited and might determine the maximum size of system that can be installed.

AC or DC? The electricity generated by solar panels is direct current low voltage, which can be used directly by specific devices.

If you want to run standard appliances of a solar system the electricity needs to be converted to 220/240 V AC.

Designing a solar system

The design of a solar PV system should follow a three-step approach: first, reduce the amount of energy required by implementing building designs that minimise the need for energy; second, look to using energy-efficient appliances to service the energy needs that are still required; and third, design a system that can supply this resulting need for electricity.

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Typical ways of reducing the energy requirements of buildings are optimising the orientation of the building to enhance solar gains, using overhangs to reduce heat capture by the building in hot periods (and thus minimise the amount of energy needed to cool the building), positioning spaces where people live and/or work on the north side of the building, and so on.

If combined with natural ventilation and the use of energy-efficient building materials, the amount of energy required to keep the building within comfort levels can be minimised.

Once the building has been designed or retrofitted to reduce the energy required, any appliance used should be of high energy efficiency. The main aim is to reduce the amount of electricity needed to a minimum.

Examples are the use of appliances with a high energy efficiency rating and energyefficient lighting (CFLs or LEDs).

After having minimised the energy requirements in the first two steps, the last step will be used to ensure that the resulting electricity demand can be met by an appropriately sized and placed solar PV system. An example of how to determine the required size of the PV system is given in the case study below.

Financial considerations

The price of solar panels has dropped significantly over the last fewn years, due to a combination of stagnating demand worldwide (and particularly in Europe), and over-capacity on the world market (mainly in China). The current spot-market price for PV panels is around ₏ 0.60–0.70 / Wp (pvXchange 2013), resulting in a price of approximately ₏ 1.50 / Wp for turnkey solar installations in Europe. The recent South African Renewable Energy IPP Programme did see a price of approximately ZAR 30 / Wp for large scale grid connected systems (Breytenbach, 2013).

4

When comparing a solar system with an ordinary grid connection due consideration has to be given to the expected life span of the solar system (typically 20–25 years), as well as the expected price development of grid electricity. As the major investments for a solar system are upfront, i.e. the investment needed for the systems itself and not for the running costs, financing costs and expected revenue streams in the future might be the biggest determining factors.

A clear distinction needs to be made between buildings with an existing electricity connection and new buildings.

For the latter, the costs of connecting the building to the grid will be avoided when designing it as an off-grid building. In this case, provision for energy storage needs to be made and no revenue can be made from feeding electricity back to the grid.

Support mechanisms

Governments worldwide have put in support mechanisms to promote the use of renewable energy sources like solar PV for the generation of electricity. These support mechanisms range from reduced import duties and taxes to accelerated depreciation to the payment of premium tariffs for electricity delivered to the electricity grid.

A major boom for solar PV has been provided by grid feed in tariffs in a large number of countries in the world. Early 2012, 71 countries in the world and 28 states/provinces have provided some kind of feed-in tariff for renewable energy (REN21, 2013). In those cases, producers of electricity by means of renewable energy technologies such as solar PV get paid a guaranteed price per kWh delivered to the grid. This tariff is normally higher than the standard tariff for power bought from the grid as an incentive towards clean production of energy. The exact price, as well as the associated terms and conditions,

SOLAR ELECTRICITY

vary per country. Unfortunately South Africa does not have feed-in tariffs at the moment, nor other support mechanisms for small scale solar PV installations, although some of the metros are currently looking into ways of accommodating feeding electricity into their grid by households/companies.

Conclusion

Currently available solar PV systems are adequately able to generate electricity for houses and commercial buildings, either as a totally off-grid building or as a grid connected building that feeds any excess electricity back into the electricity grid. With recently declining prices, solar PV systems have reached a price level that can be compared with grid based electricity and in certain cases can be deployed as an income generating technology (depending on the support systems in place).

Case study

This case study describes the selection of a solar PV system for an office/research building in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The building has been designed to be net zero energy: it produces the same amount of energy on an annual basis as it consumes during the same period. The building is grid connected and will feed any excess power generated during the day into the grid (which will be used by other buildings on the same premises).

STEP 1: Design the building is such way that the required energy consumption will be minimised. This was achieved by the use of passive solar design, passive heating and cooling systems and other interventions.

STEP 2: Minimise the required electricity for the needed energy services. This was achieved by selecting energy efficient appliances like CFL lights. The remaining energy requirement can be found in the table below.

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4

SOLAR ELECTRICITY

Expected electricity use Appliance

#

W

Hrs

Wh/Day

Laptop computers

3

140

8

3 360

Computers

4

200

24

19 200

Lamps

35

11

6

2 520

Pump

1

90

6

540

Kettle

1

1 500

1

1 500

Microwave

1

1 500

1

1 500

Fridge

1

296

6

1 776

TOTAL Allowance—System Losses GRAND TOTAL

30 396 15%

4 559 34 955

STEP 3: Develop a solar PV system able to supply the required 35 kWh each day the building is in use. As the building will be used for experiments and exhibitions it is assumed that it is in use for seven days per week. The panels will be placed on the roof of the building, which has been designed in such way that this roof is facing north and has the optimal solar angle of 35° (which corresponds with Port Elizabeth’s latitude of 34°).

• Wh to be generated per day = (Daily power need × days in use) / 7 • Wh / day required = (35 000 Wh × 7 days) / 7 = 35 000 Wh / day Figure 4 gives an indication of the solar

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hours in PE for solar panels angled at 35°, from which we derived the minimum solar hours per day to be used for the PV system size calculations.

• Minimum array Wp = Wh to be generated / peak sun hours • Size of solar system required = 35 000 / 5 = 7 000 Wp The number of panels we will need for a system of 7 Wp is depending on the rating of the panels we intend to use. Having selected a panel rating of 240 Wp, the number of panels will be 30 (7 000/240 = 29.166), which results in an area of 49.5 m2 based on the specific dimensions of the panels selected.

4

SOLAR ELECTRICITY

Figure 4: Solar resource for Port Elizabeth for horizontal panels and panels with 35° incline.

References •

•

• • •

•

• • •

Breytenbach, K. 2013. Keynote address: Update on the Renewable Energy IPP programme: Key milestones, achievements and preparing for challenges ahead, Africa Electricity Exhibition and Conference 2013.

Chapin, D.M., Fuller, C.S. and Pearson, G.L., 1954. A New Silicon p-n Junction Photocell for Converting Solar Radiation into Electrical Power. Journal of Applied Physics, 25(5), pp. 676-677.

Dyk, E.E.V., 2013. Solar Energy resource in SA and energy yield of multi-MW photovoltaic power stations. 2013.

EIA, 2013. Solar Photovoltaic Cell/Module Shipments Report 2012. Washington D.C.: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EvoEnergy, 2012-last update, PV Comparison | Compare Solar Technology | Mono & Poly | EvoEnergy. Available: http://www.evoenergy.co.uk/solar-pv/our-technology/ pv-cell-comparison/ [20 December, 2013].

Maehlum, M.A., 2013-last update, Which Solar Panel Type is Best? Mono- vs.

Polycrystalline vs. Thin Film. Available: http://energyinformative.org/best-solar-panelmonocrystalline-polycrystalline-thin-film/ [10 December 2013].

PvxChange, 2013-last update, Price Index. Available: http://www.pvxchange.com/ priceindex/Default.aspx?template_id=1&langTag=en-GB [20 December 2013].

REN21, 2013. Renewables 2013 Global Status Report. Paris: REN21 Secretariat.

Scholes, R.J., Fairbanks, D.H.K., Muller, J.L., McKelly, D.H., Esterhuyse, D., Archer, C., Winkler, H., Khoabane, K., Choma, M.A. and Mokalapa, N.D., 1999. Procedures Used to Calculate the Distribution of Solar Radiation in South Africa, Chapter 3, South African Renewable Energy Database. Procedures Used to Calculate the Distribution of Solar Radiation in South Africa. Pretoria: CSIR.

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PROFILE

Partnering with government for sustainable economic growth

By Dhesen Moodley, Investment Professional at Old Mutual Investment Group (Alternative Investments)

We urgently need to improve the country’s economic growth levels if we are to address the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment in South Africa. One of the primary barriers to economic growth is the shortage of adequate infrastructure.

Infrastructure facilitates economic growth in different ways, from the building of roads and railways to move export goods to the coast, to the construction of the actual harbours. Lack of infrastructure, on the other hand, debilitates growth – electricity outages, for example, force certain industries to scale back on production or expansion plans, while deterring others from starting businesses in South Africa.

While government’s National Development Plan (NDP) provides a comprehensive blueprint of infrastructure needed (including roads, ports, rail facilities and electricity generation), the required spend over the next three years is R847 billion. This is roughly equivalent to building 27 Gautrain systems. For government to implement the entire NDP requires significant private sector participation.

Mobilising the private sector A globally-accepted mechanism to mobilise private sector skills and capital to deliver public sector objectives is through public private partnerships (PPPs). The current Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) is a great example of the effectiveness of this PPP framework. To date, 64 renewable energy projects with a total installed capacity to generate 3 922 megawatts of power have been approved. Barely three years after the bidding started, the first wind farm and solar park were already supplying electricity to the grid.

Long-term savings can play a bigger role South African banks and financial institutions (including life insurers, infrastructure funds and pension funds) provided most of the R121 billion required to build and operate these renewable energy plants. While this is a significant investment − given that South Africa has around R4.5 trillion of national savings are investment and pension fund managers deploying enough in infrastructure assets to support economic growth and reap the potential long-term returns these investments offer?

PROFILE

Old Mutual has long been a leading investor in infrastructure and other development impact assets – through its life and pension funds. The IDEAS Managed Fund, South Africa’s largest domestic infrastructure Fund, has delivered returns of 16% a year over 15 years to the end of June 2014. This Fund is invested in 14 wind, solar and hydro-electric projects, with an additional three investments due to begin construction during 2014. It also invests in roads, railways and bridges that provide the arteries, veins and skeleton for economic growth. These infrastructure projects enable sustainable economic growth while also serving as great engines of employment and skills development, both during construction and thereafter.

Combining a social agenda with bottom-line returns REIPPPP projects have undertaken tough economic development obligations. The average local content spend across all renewable energy projects to date is 43% of total spend, which is a fair achievement for an industry which established a supply chain less than three years ago.

Temporary construction jobs amounted to over 13 000, with around 1 800 permanent jobs to be created during the average remaining 18 years of operations.

After the construction dust settles, these projects leave a raft of technicians, engineers, financiers, and lawyers with skills sharpened in the design and implementation of complex infrastructure projects.

Public sector skills have also been refined, enabling Government to design more efficient processes for future PPP-type infrastructure programmes, and to monitor and manage the private sector’s delivery. These skills will be put to good use during the Coal Baseload Independent Power Producer Programme which started recently.

We are also more confident that South Africa has the tools and the know-how to help solve the funding gap.

The REIPPPP experience showed how long-term savings can be mobilised to make a difference to socio-economic development while generating real returns for investors. The fiduciaries of the savings industry demonstrated their willingness to investigate and understand the risks of a new sector and unfamiliar technologies, before making serious investments. The public and private sector can build on this remarkable achievement and roll up our collective sleeves to execute the National Development Plan for the benefit of all South Africans.

MAKING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT MORE RESILIENT THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Llewellyn van Wyk

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

5

A

s the impacts of climate change become ever-clearer, so too does the challenge of adaptation and mitigation (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013). The World Bank estimates that developing countries will need $70–$100 billion annually through to 2050 to adapt to climate change (Environmental Expert, 2014). The public sector alone cannot meet this financial requirement: the adaptation and mitigation process needs the human, technical, and financial resources of the private sector to help bridge this significant adaptation gap and help communities become more climate resilient.

This paper analyses the role of environmental designers, such as architects and landscape architects, in overcoming the mitigation gap through design and adoption of green and innovative building technologies. The paper reviews the main drivers of climate change, and categorises the contribution of the construction and operation of buildings. The paper finds five main categories, namely energy, water (through the energy/water nexus), waste, emissions and ecological loss.

The drivers of these building impacts are analysed and it is found that green and innovative technologies and design strategies exist which can negate (mitigate) the contribution of buildings to climate change while increasing resilience. The efficacy of these strategies is tested in a Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) case study involving the design of a more efficient low income Governmentsubsidised house as well as a net zero demonstration building encompassing net zero energy, net zero water, net zero waste, net zero emissions, and net zero ecological loss in construction and operation (CSIR, 2013). The paper finds that environmental designers can make a significant

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contribution to making communities more resilient through the design, construction and operation of the building sector.

Introduction

It is widely accepted that human interference is occurring with the climate system and that climate change poses risks for human and natural systems (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014). Despite a number of climate change mitigation policies, total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continued to increase over the period 1970 to 2010, with larger absolute decadal increase toward the end of this period (IPCC, 2014). Of the total GHG emissions, carbon dioxide (COâ‚‚) emissions from fuel combustion and industrial processes contributed about 78% of the total GHG emission increase from 1970 to 2010 (IPCC, 2014). Buildings contributed 3% to this increase; however, this percentage increases to 19% when emissions from electricity and heat production are attributed to the sectors that use the final energy (IPCC, 2014).

The South African construction industry is the seventh largest contributor to gross domestic product (GDP) at 3% (Statistics South Africa 2013). The monthly value of buildings reported as completed at current prices for January 2014 was R3.5 billion, up by 26,9% compared to January 2013 (Statistics South Africa, 2014). Construction is also a significant consumer of resources, especially materials, energy and water: globally the construction industry is responsible for about 50% of all materials used, 45% of energy generated to heat, cool and light buildings and a further 5% to construct them, 40% of water used (in construction and operation), and 70% of all timber products that end up in construction (Edwards, 2002). In South Africa, buildings account for 23% of electricity used, and

5

a further 5% in the manufacturing of construction products (Construction Industry Development Board, 2012).

The construction industry has traditionally been a slow adopter of new technologies in general, mainly due to the perceived associated risks (Woudhuysen and Abley, 2004). The South African building sector undertakes most of its work with conventional technologies, namely, brick and mortar. Green building systems and technologies really came into consideration with the emergence of green building assessment tools and systems led by the British Research Establishment (BRE), and Professors Feist and Adamson in the late 1990s. This saw the publication of green building systems such as British Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), and the Passivhaus concept respectively. Since then a number of new green building systems have emerged, including the Green Star® system as adopted by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA).

The introduction of these systems has heightened interest in green building, and in the systems and technologies they use. While much of the technology remains conventional, to meet some of the performance requirements green systems and technologies are required. Green systems and technologies in the building sector can be defined as those systems and technologies which work with or use natural systems to construct and/or operate buildings in order to reduce the impact of construction on the natural environment.

These green systems and technologies can reduce environmental impact either through the development of more environmentally-supportive materials and products, and/or through the generation and/or conservation of resources such as energy and water. In addition, green systems

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

and technologies can make buildings (and thereby communities) self-reliant and therefore more resilient to climate change impacts. This conclusion has been very recently acknowledged by representatives of America’s design and construction industry signing of an “Industry Statement on Resilience” in which they commit to building a more resilient future (American Society of Landscape Architects, 2014).

This paper explores the use of green and innovative building technologies, systems and products aimed at mitigating some of the contributions of the construction sector to climate change.

Drivers of climate change

Climate change is defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods of time, regardless of cause (UNFCCC, 1994).

Observations across the world provide multiple, independent lines of evidence that the climate is changing (Environmental Protection Agency, 2014; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013).

The key findings from the Fifth Assessment (IPCC, 2013) are: • Human activities, particularly emissions of carbon dioxide, are causing a sustained and unequivocal rise in global temperatures; • The rise in global temperatures is causing changes in all geographical regions; • Climate models project continued changes under a range of possible greenhouse gas emission scenarios over the 21st century, including a global average temperature rise of between 2.6 and 4.8 °C and a sea level rise of between 0.45 and 0.82 m; • To have a better than two-thirds chance of limiting warming to less than 2°C from

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BUILDING SUCCESS

STOCK CLAY BRICKS

FROM THE INSIDE

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Renowned for the manufacture of high quality clay stock bricks and semi-face clay bricks, Oconbrick has been used in significant volumes in a number of landmark South African projects.

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Build on the Best

5

pre-industrial levels the total cumulative carbon dioxide emission from all human sources since the start of the industrial era would need to be limited to about 1 000 gigatonnes of carbon (the carbon budget); • Even if emissions are stopped immediately, temperatures will remain elevated for centuries due to the effect of greenhouse gases from past human emissions already present in the atmosphere; and • Limiting temperature rise will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

Natural and human factors drive climate change; in order to ensure the efficacy of the building sector’s contribution to climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, the drivers of climate change need to be understood.

At its broadest scale climate is affected by the Earth’s energy balance, i.e. the rate at which energy is received from the sun and the rate at which it is lost to space.

Factors that can shape climate are referred to as forcing mechanisms (Environmental Protection Agency, 2014) which can be either internal or external. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the climate system itself while external forcing mechanisms can be either natural (changes in solar output, deviations in the Earth’s orbit, mountain-building and continental drift, land-use changes, and greenhouse gas concentrations) or anthropogenic (land-use changes and increased emissions of greenhouse gases).

Impact of climate change on weather patterns

Scientists believe that the consequences of climate variability and change are more immediate and profound than previously

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

anticipated (National Science Foundation, 2012). The consequences are likely to include prolonged droughts; increasing stresses on natural and managed ecosystems; loss of agricultural and forest productivity; degraded ocean and permafrost habitats; global sea-level rise and the rapid retreat of ice sheets and glaciers; and changes in ocean currents (NSF, 2012). The effects of these events for species, including humans, may be far-reaching, and may occur within decades and shorter time scales (NSF, 2012).

Moreover, because the atmosphere, land and aquatic systems, rivers and streams, and the ocean are closely linked through water and biogeochemical cycles, change to one has the potential for system-wide feedbacks and unintended consequences (NSF, 2012).

A warmer atmosphere will contain more energy, and more energy and moisture will mean wetter storms in many places (Yale360, 2014). If this scenario is correct it raises the possibility that disruption to the usual weather patterns may well be how climate change manifests itself (Yale360, 2014).

As the impacts of climate change become ever-clearer, so too does the challenge of adaptation and mitigation (IPCC, 2013). The World Bank estimates that developing countries will need $70–$100 billion annually through 2050 to adapt to climate change (Environmental Expert, 2014). The public sector alone cannot meet this financial requirement; the adaptation and mitigation process needs the human, technical, and financial resources of the private sector to help bridge this significant adaptation gap and make communities more climate resilient.

Adaptation and mitigation: A global strategy

The international political response to climate change began with the adoption

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ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

5

of the UNFCCC in 1992, which sets out a framework for action aimed at stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to “avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2014).

Adaptation recognises that climate change is, and will continue to, result in weather-related events which will have significant impacts on a wide range of economic sectors and infrastructure, and that measures need to be put in place to minimise the exposure and impacts.

Mitigation, on the other hand, recognises that measures need to be put in place to reduce anthropogenic interference with the climate system in order to minimise impacts, and especially on actions required to achieve the 1.5–2°C target (IISD, 2014).

A mitigatory building strategy

The construction and expansion of the built environment makes its own contribution to forcing mechanisms by contributing to environmental change through deforestation and land-clearing, industrialisation, urbanisation and megacity growth, and post-industrialisation: these activities are likely to continue given projected population and urbanisation growth (NSF, 2012a). There are therefore significant challenges to be dealt with in terms of balancing needs like energy efficiency, maintaining water quality and deciding how best to manage the significant investments needed for civil and private infrastructure (NSF, 2012a).

From a built environment perspective there is a need to determine how our built and governance systems can be made more reliable, resilient, and sustainable. These systems have to meet diverse and often conflicting needs such as consumption

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of water for energy generation, industrial and agricultural production, and other requirements. The interplay of agriculture, cities, industry and nature across landscapes, as well as the contribution of direct-andobvious as well as indirect-and-subtle interactions will determine resilience to change (NSF, 2012b).

The following section discusses findings from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) experimental work and other experimental work done globally on green and innovative building technologies aimed at reducing the building sectors contribution to forcing mechanisms and that demonstrably contribute towards a more reliable, resilient, and sustainable people/planet nexus.

Strategy One: Net zero biodiversity loss

Earth is rapidly losing species and it is happening faster than scientists can understand the roles these species play and how they function (NSF, 2012c). With their disappearance come lost opportunities to comprehend the history of life, to better predict the future of the living world and to make beneficial discoveries in the areas of food, fibre, fuel, pharmaceuticals and bioinspired innovation (NSF, 2012c).

The following design strategies demonstrably contribute towards broader mitigation efforts.

Replace what is displaced Climate change may alter the type, distribution and coverage of vegetation which may result in improved plant growth and concomitant sequestration of airborne carbon dioxide (CO₂), or in vegetation stress, rapid plant loss, desertification and a concomitant reduction in airborne carbon dioxide sequestration and a resultant depreciation in ecological goods

5

and services (EGS) many of which have a regulatory effect on the environment (Bachelet, Neilson, Lenihan, and Drapek, 2001). In addition, buildings and their ancillary services displace vegetation with concrete and asphalt: in tandem the two impacts will significantly diminish vegetative sequestration potential and ecological goods and services. Replacing what is displaced with enhanced ecological footprint aims to ensure that, at worst, there is no loss of EGS, and at best, the existing EGS is enhanced and made more resilient.

Buildings offer opportunities to strengthen and extend biodiversity: the Bosco Verticale high-rise residential development in Milan supports a vertical forest of 900 trees, 5 000 shrubs and 11 000 floral plants on terraces up to the 27th floor, creating a biological habitat in an area of 40 000 square meters (Arup, 2014).

Green infrastructure The city environment and its human inhabitants form a complex system with multiple connections (EPA, 2007; NSF, 2013). While infrastructure undoubtedly can lead to an improvement in the quality of life of users, in many instances this contribution comes with some cost to the environment. The expanding network of roads, for example, covers many thousands of kilometres of land—in excess of 747 000 in South Africa (South Africa Information Service, 2013)—with significant impacts on the ecosystem resulting in a diminishing of EGS. Impervious surfaces also decrease the ability of land to absorb water resulting in an increase in runoff. Bulk services, including water, sanitation and stormwater systems, require energy to reticulate (Cohen, Nelson and Woolf, 2004). The energy required is generally generated from the burning of fossil fuels with a concomitant rise in GHG emissions. Green infrastructure seeks to

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

perform those functions in a manner that, at the very least, minimises the impact of bulk services on the natural environment and, at the very best, enhances the quality of the natural environment. Green infrastructure systems includes tree boxes, vegetated swales, vegetated median strips, cisterns and rain water tanks, land conservation and reforestation, rain water harvesting, green roofs, riparian buffers, parks and greenbelts, permeable pavement, wetland and floodplain construction, rain gardens, bio-infiltration practices, as well as ecological sanitation systems (City of Philadelphia, 2009).

The built environment modifies the surface of the land in ways that retain heat—the heat island effect (NSF, 2013).

Typically soil and grass have been replaced with asphalt and concrete that absorb heat during the day and re-radiate it at night, causing higher temperatures which in turn increase discomfort and vulnerability of some populations to health problems. It also results in higher ambient temperatures, resulting in the reliance of heating, cooling and air-conditioning systems to maintain acceptable indoor thermal comfort levels. A NSF (2013) study supports other studies that have found that dark impervious surfaces in our cities absorb and radiate heat back to the atmosphere at a far greater rate than the natural environment does. The heat island effect has resulted in cities becoming the Earth’s newest deserts, exhibiting high temperatures and arid conditions with little vegetation and, as a stand-alone factor (excluding greenhouse gas-induced climate change considerations), potentially raising temperatures by roughly six degrees (NSF, 2013). Cool islands—the introduction of principles of landscape design and architecture together with urban heat island mitigation strategies also known as microclimate ecosystem services—in the

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Central University of Technology, Free State

Welcome to Central University of Technology, Free State Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering

Department of Government Management The programme in Community Development Practice is designed to equip student with the necessary skills and knowledge in participative development practices, sustainable development theory, legislation and municipal processes, project management, ethics, rights and democracy.

Career Opportunities include community development worker, community development project manager, community planner, administrator, coordinator and community development team leader.

The CUT Higher Certificate in Renewable Energy Technologies (HCRET) is designed for those individuals wanting to get into the renewable energy field. Achievement of the Higher Certificate in Renewable Energy Technologies is a way for candidates to demonstrate that they have achieved a basic knowledge of the fundamental principles of the application, design, installation and operation of PV, Solar and Small Wind energy systems. This qualification can also assist in strengthening an individual's profile for articulation towards entering a National Diploma in Engineering.

As the market grows for both PV, Solar Heating and Wind energy systems, students achieving this qualification may find that their employment opportunities are enhanced by starting a job with an understanding of the basic terms and operational aspects of a PV, Solar and Small Wind energy systems.

HIGHER CERTIFICATE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE For candidates who completed NSC in 2008 and thereafter: Senior Certificate / NSC or equivalent qualification.

Candidates may be required to write a selection test.

Subjects:

HIGHER CERTIFICATE: RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES (IEHCRE) For candidates who completed the NSC in 2008 and thereafter:

Contact person:

Academic Literacy and communication studies Numeracy Digital Literacy Participative Development Practices Sustainable Development Theory Legislation and Municipal Processes Project Management Ethics Rights and Democracy Work-integrated Learning

Mrs Alta Shaw Department of Government Management Tel: +27 (0)51 5073378 E-mail: ashaw@cut.ac.za Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) Private Bag X20539, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

Department of Civil Engineering Public and private sectors dealing with logistics and transportation system are potential employers of graduates of this programme at local, regional and national level. Graduates from this programme will be able to identify, prepare, analyse and manage logistics and transport projects, and conduct freight planning and its management. These will also give career opportunities to graduates with companies dealing with transport economics, engineering and infrastructural developments.

ADVANCED DIPLOMA: LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

• In addition to the CUT general admission requirements, a Senior Certificate with a minimum score of 27 on the CUT scoring scale, plus a minimum mark of 50% (level 4) in both Mathematics and Physical Science is required.

Subjects:

Subjects: Introduction to Research and Research Project Project Management Business Logistics and Management Transportation Planning Traffic Planning and Management Quantitative Techniques and Optimisation Infrastructure Planning Rail Transportation Local Transportation Inventory Management Freight Planning and Management Transportation and Highway Engineering Urban and Regional Planning

Thinking Beyond

Johan Raath Course Coordinator: Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering Tel: +27 (0)51 507 3074 E-mail: jraath@cut.ac.za Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) Private Bag X20539, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

Department of Civil Engineering Water management is classified as a scare skill in South Africa and is listed in the Department of Labour 2007 National Scarce Skills List. Graduates from this programme will have career opportunities in national and local government departments, municipalities and private companies involved in water management, water supply and distribution, water and waste water treatments, environmental management, etc.

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE: HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

For candidates who completed NSC in 2008 and thereafter: • A National Diploma in either Civil Engineering (or Engineering Technology in Civil) or Management (both at NQF level 6) OR • A Diploma in either Civil Engineering (or Engineering Technology in Civil) or Management (both at NQF level 6) OR • Relevant sufficient experience in the logistics and transportation sector PLUS any qualification at NQF level 6. These applications will be considered individually by a panel of the CUT for admission

Contact person:

Digital Literacy Academic Literacy and Communication Studies Mathematics IA Electrical Engineering I Applied Physics of Energy Conversion Solar Energy Systems I Health and Safety: Principles and Practice Electrical Installation Practice Power Generation and Storage Solar Energy Systems II Small Wind Generation Mathematics IB

For candidates who completed NSC in 2008 and thereafter: In addition to the general admission requirements, the candidate must be in possession of the NSC with endorsement for a bachelor's degree. A minimum mark of 50% in Life Sciences/Physiology and Mathematics and Physical Sciences is required. A minimum admission point score (APS) of 28 points on the CUT scale of notation is also required.

Contact person: Prof. YE Woyessa Department of Civil Engineering Tel: +27 (0)51 507 3082 E-mail: ywoyessa@cut.ac.za Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) Private Bag X20539, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

Contact person:

Subjects: Academic and communication studies Chemistry Physics Applied Mathematics Hydrology I Water Resources Management I Environmental Science Hydro Chemistry Geo-Hydrology Environmental Engineering

Prof. YE Woyessa Department of Civil Engineering Tel: +27 (0)51 507 3082 E-mail: ywoyessa@cut.ac.za Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) Private Bag X20539, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

Other new programmes as of 2014: Agricultural Extension • Dental Assisting • Design and Studio Art • Bachelors of Radiography

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www.cut.ac.za • Bloemfontein: (051) 507 3911 • Welkom: (057) 910 3500

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city environment absorb and reflect the sun’s rays, thereby buffering the heat index (NSF, 2013).

Strategy Two: High performance building envelope

For purposes of its experimental work the CSIR uses the definition of a high performance building as articulated by the United States Energy Independence and Security Act 2007, namely, “A building that integrates and optimises on a lifecycle basis all major high performance attributes, including energy [ and water ] conservation, environment, safety, security, durability, accessibility, cost-benefit, productivity, sustainability, functionality, and operational considerations” (Energy Independence and Security Act, 2007 401 PL 110–140). In addition, the high performance approach supports the view articulated by Charles Kibert et al that buildings should be fully integrated and designed to be heated, cooled, ventilated, and lighted by local resources through the use of design strategies that assist the creation of far more effective passive building design (Kibert and Grosskopf, 2006). Various studies examining the benefits arising from high performance building have recognised the interplay of comfort, energy, water and environment (National Resources Defense Council, 2012).

The following design strategies can all contribute towards broader mitigation efforts.

Smart roofs Results from a study undertaken in southern California by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC, 2012) confirm that installing green roofs and cool roofs could save consumers more than $211 million in energy bills and reduce emissions equivalent to removing 91 000 cars from the road each

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

year. The study finds that smart roofing practices can save energy by upwards of 50% by reducing cooling loads, reduce carbon footprints, protect human health by reducing neighbourhood temperatures, improve air quality, and protect freshwater resources from pollution, absorb and delay rainfall runoff, and reduce the volume of rainfall runoff.

Highly insulated building envelope In a study undertaken by the CSIR (2013), a 40 square meter house was constructed using an Agrément certified innovative building technology (Imison 3 Building System Certificate 2008/342) comprising 100mm Neopor under-slab insulation, prefabricated load-bearing wall frame panels using galvanised, light-gauge, coldrolled steel components with insulating core, erected on site and finished with a proprietary fibre reinforced plaster coating, and prefabricated, light gauge, cold-rolled steel roof construction with insulated steel roof sheets and 40mm Neopor insulation between purlins, and double-glazed windows and doors.

Indoor temperatures and outdoor weather conditions were measured for a set period to determine the efficacy of an insulated building envelope in reducing energy consumption. The data showed that the indoor temperature stayed within the comfort range of 18.5–28 degrees Celsius for most of the period under review. While the external temperature range for the period was from a high of 29 degrees Celsius to a low of six degrees Celsius indicating a variation of 23 degrees Celsius, the indoor temperature range was from a high of 28 degrees Celsius to a low of 15 degrees Celsius, a variation of 13 degrees Celsius (CSIR, 2013). The data confirmed that the house would require very little heating in winter (1.7 Gj with annual cost of R566.66)

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compared to a typical low income house (heating load of 12.28 Gj with an annual cost of R4 081.87) or a South African National Standard (SANS, 204) compliant house (7.66 Gj with an annual cost of R2 553.26).

The study also demonstrated the energy/water/environment nexus. The reduction in the heating load resulted in a concomitant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions: for the study house the heating load resulted in an emission of 265 kgCO₂/ annum, compared to the low income house of 3 264 kgCO₂/annum and the SANS 204 house of 1 071 kgCO₂/annum. The energy reduction also resulted in water savings associated with electricity generation: the water consumption associated with the heating load was 371 l/annum compared to the low income house of 4 557 l/annum and the SANS 204 house of 2 850 l/annum (CSIR, 2013).

Apart from the above, additional benefits accrue in the southern African context.

Significant sub-continental warming (1–3°C) is projected which is likely to increase the use of air conditioning with concomitant increase in electricity consumption.

Furthermore, air conditioning contributes to the heat island effect ( Georgescu, Mahalov, Moustaoui and Wang, 2014), further exacerbating the need for air conditioning —a vicious feedback loop.

while the IRENA roadmap targets a doubling of the RE market share by 2030 (IISD, 2014).

Energy efficiency offers a significant mitigation contribution potential across sectors with added beneficial contributions towards sustainable development (Höhne, Braun, Ellerman and Blok, 2014). The reduction that energy efficiency measures can make has been estimated in two recent International Energy Agency (IEA) reports to be an additional 1500 MtCO₂ in 2020 (Höhne et al, 2014). It has been noted that both studies see the highest share coming from indirect emission reductions due to increased efficiency in the end-uses of electricity (Höhne et al, 2014). Of the reduction potential it is estimated that energy efficiencies in appliances and lighting and heating and cooling contribute 30% respectively (Höhne et al, 2014). Co-benefits identified with the reductions include reduced air and water pollution and health costs, energy security, macroeconomic benefits, and less energy poverty (Höhne et al, 2014). Various studies, including the IEA reports, note the availability of low-cost options relating to energy efficiency, as well as the short payback periods that are attributable to some of the technologies (Höhne et al, 2014). The following design strategies contribute towards broader mitigation efforts.

Strategy Three: Net zero energy

Off-grid renewable energy Net zero energy seeks to balance the energy supply with the energy demand over a determined period of time using a combination of renewable and grid-derived energy. The CSIR is currently engaged in a research study aimed at testing the applicability of a net zero energy building under South African climatic conditions.

The building, to be erected at the CSIR’s Port Elizabeth campus, was designed with a high performance envelope as discussed

Three pillars of energy have been identified, namely renewable energy (RE), energy efficiency (EE), and the future grid (flexible grids, enlarged grid capacities as well as the integration of renewables) (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2014).

A shift toward RE is one of the mitigation strategies adopted at an international level: currently 18% of the global energy mix is RE

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above to alleviate the need for heating and cooling loads while the plug loads were reduced by correct sizing. These two strategies resulted in a demand load that could be met by renewable energy sources, in this case, the installation of a 46 square metre, roof-mounted, 4.8kWp photovoltaic system. Under conditions when the system is generating more energy than is required, the excess energy will be sent to the adjacent buildings, and when more energy is required than produced, energy will be withdrawn from the adjacent building, thus achieving the net zero energy and carbon dioxide emission result over a year (CSIR, 2012). The efficacy of this strategy is being demonstrated in the European Union where reductions in emissions are attributable to, inter alia, strong growth in renewable energy and improvements in energy efficiency (European Environment Agency, 2014).

Strategy Four: Net zero water

Among the most urgent challenges facing the world is how to ensure the adequate supply and quality of water, especially in the light of burgeoning human needs and climate variability and change (NSF, 2012b).

Despite this challenge, it is recognised that major gaps exist in our understanding of water availability and quality, and of the effects of a changing climate and human activities on the planet’s water system (NSF, 2012b). In addition, the energy/water nexus is often overlooked: potable water availability in the built environment is only possible due to the availability of energy to construct dams, pump and reticulate water, and operate water treatment plants.

The same holds true for sanitation and stormwater management. Off-grid water supply and sanitation therefore offers a significant opportunity to reduce energy

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

consumption, and thereby the concomitant carbon dioxide emissions associated with electricity generation in South Africa. The following design strategies contribute towards broader mitigation efforts.

Rainwater harvesting and treatment Rainwater harvesting involves the collection and storage of rainwater from the roof and impervious surfaces of and around a building. Rainwater is collected and stored in rainwater tanks: the tanks can either be positioned on the ground close to the downpipes or in a single more ideally situated location, or buried in the ground as a subterranean tank.

The Port Elizabeth building research study described above includes the investigation of a net zero water building (CSIR, 2012). As was done for the energy analysis, the solution focused on driving down demand to match available supply, i.e. annual rainfall. The approach focused on correct sizing, and building design. With regard to the former, monthly demand was compared to monthly rainwater yield, and additional storage capacity made for the months where a deficit resulted. With regard to the latter, the building has a butterfly roof with a central gutter discharging water to four rainwater tanks positioned directly above the ablution facilities to avoid any pumping loads. Excess water is collected off the central gutter and stored in eight rainwater tanks positioned on the ground for irrigation purposes. A number of water treatment systems are available to ensure that the water quality is suitable for human consumption (a final decision on the system has not yet been made with regard to the research study).

Off-grid sanitation The term “sanitation� refers to the principles and practices relating to the collection,

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removal or disposal of human excreta, household waste water and refuse as they impact upon people and the environment (Department of Water Affairs, 2001; 2002).

Sanitation is any system that promotes sanitary, or healthy, living conditions. It includes systems to manage wastewater, storm water, solid waste and household refuse and it also includes ensuring that people have safe drinking water and enough water for washing (DWAF, 2002). The basic purpose of any sanitation system is to contain human excreta (chiefly faeces) and prevent the spread of infectious diseases, while avoiding danger to the environment (Austin & Duncker, 2002). Sanitation includes both the ‘software’ (understanding why health problems exist and what steps people can take to address these problems) and ‘hardware’ (toilets, sewers and handwashing facilities).

There are a number of technologies that can be used for sewerage treatment in South Africa, including ventilated improved pit (VIP) toilets, ecological sanitation and water-borne sanitation. The system selected for the CSIR Port Elizabeth research study is an on-site, closed-loop, flush toilet waterborne sanitation system available from New World Sanitation and Solar Solutions (Pty) Ltd. Naturally occurring micro-organisms (bacteria) are selected as a biological additive to the digester tank of the self-sustainable flushable, portable and/ or fixed biological water-borne toilet. The biological process occurring in the digester tank converts raw sewage into re-usable filtered water, ready for re-use to the toilet cistern for flushing.

The principle is that naturally occurring micro-organisms as opposed to chemical processes, are selected as a biological additive to the digester tank of the selfsustainable flushable, portable and/or fixed

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biological water-borne toilet. The removal of water for sanitation purposes significantly reduced the total water demand, thereby making it feasible to meet demand through the supply provided by the annual rainfall.

The net result from the adoption of the two strategies is, apart from the obvious scarce resource management issues, is the elimination of grid-energy required to maintain and operate bulk infrastructure services like water and sanitation and its concomitant greenhouse gas emissions.

Strategy Five: Net zero waste

Although significant attention is given to the energy efficiencies of green buildings, significant environmental gains can be equally achieved through innovative construction waste management.

Construction waste, which is classified under general waste, and is defined as “waste, excluding hazardous waste, produced during the construction, alteration, repair or demolition of any structure, and includes rubble, earth, rock and wood displaced during that construction, alteration, repair or demolition” (Department of Environmental Affairs, 2012), is just that: a waste of raw and often scarce materials; a waste of energy; a waste of chemicals and additives; and a waste of human resources. In reality, it represents a waste within the three pillars of sustainable development, namely, economic feasibility, social wellbeing, and environmental stewardship. One of the main impacts of landfilling is air pollution from landfill gas (CSIR, 2011).

Typically landfill gas comprises of about 50–55% methane, 40–45% carbon dioxide (both of which are greenhouse gases) and the remainder to complex organic compounds that do not compose, some hydrogen sulphide and other sulphide

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compounds (CSIR, 2011).The following design strategies contribute towards broader mitigation efforts (Van Wyk, 2014).

Prevention Construction materials come in different shapes and sizes and any use of the material that does not work with that shape and size will result in waste. Using a modular approach to design based on the materials used in the construction of the CSIR 40 square metre low income house reduced material resource input by weight by about 35% compared to a conventional Government-subsidised low income house, and hollow concrete block waste by about 90% (CSIR, 2011). Prevention strategies include the use of prefabricated parts due to the greater construction accuracies that can be achieved under factory conditions; the use of standardised components rather than bespoke, one-off products; the use of materials without a finish (such as epoxy-coated aluminium and steel) as these finishes need to be removed before the material can be recycled; accurate estimating and ordering; and the avoidance of packaging wherever possible (where not possible the packaging material is to be recollected for reuse).

Minimisation Minimisation includes the implementation of efficient material saving construction techniques, preparing a waste management plan for each construction project; safe storage of materials on site; utilising waste concrete for parking stops, gutters, signage bases, etc.; and ordering materials with a recycled content.

Re-use Re-use strategies include sourcing salvaged materials wherever possible and adopting

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

a deconstruction approach rather than a demolition approach to retrofits.

Recycle Recycle strategies include an in-house recycling programme based on waste separation; making subcontractors responsible for their own waste; separating and recycling asphalt and concrete; as well as separating and recycling rebar and other materials.

Disposal Disposal should be the last resort in the waste-management hierarchy.

Conclusion

The construction, operation and maintenance of the built environment has a causal relationship with two of the drivers of climate change, namely land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions. The provision of bulk services—specifically the energy required to reticulate bulk services —contributes to both land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions, and places the operation of the building at risk should those bulk services fail either due to inherent system faults or extreme weather events.

The built environment also typically weakens ecosystems, undermining ecological goods and services and further weakening the resilience of the built and natural environments. This paper has demonstrated, through research undertaken internationally and at the CSIR, that the influence of these two drivers can be significantly reduced through the implementation of targeted design strategies using green and innovative technologies and these, together with the decoupling of buildings from bulk services, is both a mitigatory strategy and a resilience enhancer.

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References •

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ASLA. 2014. “Design and construction groups launch alliance for a resilient tomorrow”.

Accessed http://dirt.asla.org/2014/05/14/design-and-construction-groups-launchalliance-for-a-resilient-tomorrow/ retrieved May21, 2014.

Arup. 2014. “Must see: Vertical forest goes up in the heart of Milan”, Building Design and Construction. Accessed http://www.bdcnetowrk.com/must-see-vertical-forest-goesheart-milan?eid=216287284&bid=867906 retrieved May 16, 2014.

Austin, A. & Duncker, L. 2002: “Urine-diversion ecological sanitation systems in South Africa”. Boutek report No BOU/E0201, Pretoria.

Bachelet, D., Neilson, R., Lenihan, J., & Drapek, R. 2001. “Climate change effects on vegetation distribution and carbon budget in the United States”. Accessed http://wwwusgrcp.gov/usgrcp/Library/nationalassessment/forets/Ecosystems2 Bachelet.pdf Ecosystems 4 (3):164-185.doi:10.1007/s10021-001-0002-7.

BD&C. 2014. “EPA publishes ‘best management practices’ rule on erosion, stormwater at construction sites”. Building Design and Construction. Accessed http://www. bdcnetwork.com/ retrieved March 18, 2014.

Cohen, R., Nelson, B., and Woolf, G. 2004. “Energy down the drain: The hidden costs of California’s Water Supply”, Natural Resources Defence Council and the Pacific Institute.

Accessed http://www.nrdc.org/water/conservation/edrain/edrain.pdf retrieved May 9, 2014.

CSIR. 2011. “Comparative analysis of innovative technology and conventional building technology in low income building”, Technical report: CSIR/BE/BST/IR/2011/C+, Pretoria.

CIDB. 2000. “Greenhouse Gas Emission Baselines and Reduction Potentials from Buildings in South Africa”, UNEP/CIDB SBCI, Pretoria.

DEA. 2012. “National Waste Information Baseline Report”, Department of Environmental Affairs, Pretoria.

DWAF. 2001. “White Paper on Basic Household Sanitation”. Department of Water and Forestry, Pretoria.

DWAF. 2002. “Free Basic Water Guidelines and Regulations”. Pretoria. Department of Water and Forestry: Directorate: Interventions and Operations Support, Pretoria.

Edwards, B. 2002. “Rough guide to Sustainability”, RIBA, London.

EEA. 2014. “EU reports lowest greenhouse gas emissions on record”. Accessed http:// www.eea.europa.eu/media/newsrelease/greenhouse-gas-inventory-report-pressrelease retrieved June 3, 2014.

ENN. 2014. “Rooftop considerations amidst climate change”, Environmental News Network. Accessed http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/47163 retrieved March 17, 2014.

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• • • •

• •

•

•

•

•

• •

• •

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EPA. 2007. “Green infrastructure statement of intent”, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington.

Georgescu, M., Mahalov, A., Moustaoui, M. and Wang, M., 2014. “Anthropogenic heating of the urban environment due to air conditioning”, Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, March 6 issue.

Hohne, N., Braun, N., Ellerman, C. and Blok, K., 2014. “Towards a policy menu to strengthen the ambition to mitigate greenhouse gases”, Ecofys, Utrecht.

IISD. 2014. “Bonn climate change conference”, Earth Negotiations Bulletin, 10–14 March 2014.

International Institute for Sustainable Development, ADP2–4 Final, Bonn.

IPCC. 2013. “Climate change: Action, trends and implications for business”. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report, Cambridge, University of Cambridge, pp. 4–5.

IPCC. 2014. “Summary for policymakers”, IPCC WGIII AR5 Summary for Policymakers, Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change.

Kibert, C., and Grosskopf, K. 2006. “Radical sustainable construction: envisioning next-generation green buildings”. In “Rethinking sustainable construction 2006: Next generation buildings, Proceedings of the 12th Rinker International Conference”, September 19–22, 2006, Sarasota, Florida.

NSF. 2012a. “Climate and environmental change in the U.S. northeast corridor”, Washington, National Science Foundation. Accessed http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/ disc_summ.jsp retrieved 17 March 2014.

NSF. 2012b. “Cry me a river: Following a watershed’s winding path to sustainability”.

National Science Foundation. Accessed http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summary. jsp retrieved 17 March 2014.

NSF. 2012c. “Earth week: A stream is a stream is a stream: Or is it?” National Science Foundation. Accessed http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp retrieved March 17, 2014.

NRDC. 2012. “Looking up: How green roofs and cool roofs can reduce energy use, address climate change, and protect water resources in southern California”, Los Angeles, National Resources Defense Council, R:12-6-B. NSF. 2013. “Summertime: Hot time in the city”, Washington, National Science Foundation http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp retrieved 17 March 2014.

Pearce, F. 2014. “Is weird weather related to climate change?” Accessed http://e260.yale. edu/feature/is_wierd_winter_weather_related_to_climate_change/2742/ retrieved March 18, 2014.

South African Info. 2013. “South Africa’s transport network”. Accessed http://www. southafrica.info/business/economy/infrastructure/transport retrieved 2 January 2014.

StatsSA. 2013. “Stats in brief”, Statistics South Africa, Pretoria.

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StatsSA. 2013. “Selected building statistics of the private sector as reported by local government institutions”, P5041.1, Statistics South Africa, Pretoria.

UNFCCC. 1994. “The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” Accessed http://www.unfccc.int/essential_background/convention/background/ items/1349.php retrieved March 21, 1994.

US EPA. “Glossary of climate change terms”, United States Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed http://www.epa.gov/climatechnage/glossary.html, retrieved March 18, 2014.

US EPA 2004. “Stormwater best management practice design guide: Volume 1 General Considerations”. United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA/600/R-04/121, Washington.

Van Jaarsveld, A. and Chown, S. 2000. “Climate change and its impacts in South Africa”, in Ecology and Evolution Vol.16 No.1 January 2001) Van Wyk, L. 2012. “Advanced construction technology platform: Bio-composite building, Port Elizabeth”, CSIR/BE/BST/IR/2012/C+, Pretoria.

Van Wyk, L. 2013. “Thermal performance analysis of BASF house”. CSIR/BE/BST/IR/2013/ C+, Pretoria.

Van Wyk, L. 2014. “Towards net-zero construction and demolition waste”. Green Building Handbook, Volume 6, 129-141, Alive2Green, Cape Town.

Woudhuysen, J., and Abley, I. 2004. “Why is construction so backward”, Wiley-Academy, West Sussex.

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Let’s meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.

rg.za

ybrick.o www.cla

Lowest heating and cooling footprint. 100% recyclable.

100 plus years lifespan. Low life cycle C02 emissions.

Clay Brick. There is no alternative.

PROFILE

How do you measure “GREEN”?

So many products and companies these days play the “green card”. Unfortunately, the words “green” or “environmentally friendly”, like the words “natural” and “organic” have no definitions, making them available to shrewd salesmen everywhere.“The Clay Brick Association of South Africa (CBASA) has the responsibility to ensure that their accredited members conform to both legislation regarding air pollution and environmental protection, as well as a strict code of conduct with regard to how their products are manufactured,” says At Coetzee, executive director of CBASA. We demand more than just lip-service to environmentally sound practices, because South Africa is OUR country. When you manage a business that has a 60-100 year average lifespan, sustainability takes on a whole new importance. Clay Brick products and manufacturing technologies are not imported from the Far East - our managers, staff and their families live within a few kilometres of where they work.

What do WE mean by “green” When a term has no formal definition we need to describe exactly what we mean when we say clay brick is a “green” construction material. Made of clay and shale, the final composition of clay brick includes the four natural elements; earth, wind, fire and water. Clay bricks contain no pollutants or allergens and are resistant to ants, borer and termites. They are recyclable or reusable, and can be returned to the earth at the end of their useful life.

Selecting a building material is a lifelong decision Over the life of a clay brick, as little as 20% of energy usage is taken up in its manufacture. The other 80% of energy is in the subsequent cost of providing heating and cooling of enclosed habitable spaces.

Apart from protecting the environment with low levels of carbon emissions during manufacture and distribution, the natural insulation and low thermal diffusivity properties of clay brick also contribute significantly to the low CO2 emissions life cycle of a building.

50% less artificial heating and cooling, Clay brick has the ability to absorb heat during the day and release it at night, thus reducing the need for artificial heating in winter and cooling in summer. In South Africa’s warmer climate zones, energy is more often put towards air-conditioning and cooling rather than heating.

Consistent across both South African and Australian thermal modelling studies is that clay brick and the thermal mass it provides enhance the time spent in the comfort zone. The two clay brick skins for the external walls were found to offer most benefit over lightweight during the hotter days, while the internal skin of clay brick of the Insulated Clay Brick wall contributed to the walling systems superior performance over lightweight during the colder periods. In comparison, insulated lightweight walls from pre-fabricated panels cannot self-regulate, resulting in “hotbox” conditions. In a comparative electrical usage study by Structatherm Projects, carried out on a standard CSIR designed house of 132m² with an insulated clay brick walls, electrical energy usage was 40-60% of the steel frame light weight walling system with insulation. Using an alternative building system might just double your energy bills every year, with the consequent impact on the environment in terms of carbon emissions.

For example, in the Bloemfontein test house with cavity walls comprising clay brick and insulation to SANS 204, the total electrical usage for heating and cooling over a calendar year was 10975 kWh. This can be compared to steel frame house (insulation to SANS 204) of 29950 kWh. This is a reduction of 18975kgs [63% less] of CO2 emissions per annum. That is more than significant!

PROFILE Fabricated lightweight walling associated with “Innovative Building Technologies” such as Light Steel Frame Buildings and pre-fabricated fibre-cement panels simply do not have the requisite thermal mass in the walling envelope to attenuate heat flows and moderate internal temperatures. This poor thermal performance results in the need for extended cooling and heating, higher energy costs, greater CO2 emissions and greater impact on the environment.

International Research supports local findings Research by the CTL Group in the US, has confirmed local outcomes. Comparing different “cladding” on a standard US house located in 10 different cities across the US, they found that houses with an exterior brick cladding used less heating energy in warmer climates than lightweight alternates associated with Innovative Building Technologies, and less cooling energy in all locations.

Brick Masonry

Block Masonry (concrete)

EIFS (pre-fabricated panels)

Lifespan

100 years

50 years

Estimated 15 Years*

Energy

0.256

0.232

5.669

Pollution

0.011

0.005

0.023

Waste & Depletion

0.108

0.203

0.828

Recycling potential

100%

80%

2%

Distance Travelled#

Within 100km of manufacture

Within 100km of manufacture

Within 300km of manufacture

Noise Attenuation

44dB

Unknown

30-38dB

Fire rating

120-240 minutes

Unknown

60-120 min

*EIFS – Exterior Insulated Finishing System. Composite EIFS are associated with Innovative Building Technologies such wall cladding and panels comprising a layer of plastic (CFC) insulation, fibre cement reinforced layer and a final top coat or finish. As many of these building system are new and untested, and their lifespan must still be proven. # Distance travelled. Clay bricks are usually used within 100km of manufacture due to the local suppliers conveniently located in each area. Pre-fabricated panels are manufactured in a single location which requires transportation to the point of use. The environmental impact of transport is significant and road transport is considered the largest single contributor to global warming.

The European Environment Agency proposes that a single diesel truck carrying just 1 ton of freight for 300km produces: • • •

360kg of CO2 75 grams of carbon monoxide 96 grams of hydrocarbons

• • •

900 grams of nitrogen oxide, and 54 grams of sulpher oxides 51 grams of particulates

Minimal maintenance Once laid, facebrick stays beautiful indefinitely without maintenance –no initial painting, no subsequent repainting and no replastering. The maintenance free benefits of clay face brick translate into an approximate reduction of 6.0Kg CO2 emissions for every square meter of wall that is repainted every 5 to 7 years over a buildings life.

Buildings like schools are subjected to excessive wear and tear, and the annual maintenance of a pre-fabricated panel building is an unacceptably high cost for both the school and our environment.

PROFILE Noise is also pollution Noise pollution in our cities is an ever-present annoyance. The density of clay means clay bricks resist the transmission of airborne sound waves. Clay brick high-density buildings such as townhouses, schools, hospitals and offices will be naturally quieter than those built from any other construction materials.

A lifetime of savings Of course, a building that needs replacing after just a few years is a complete waste of all resources invested in both manufacture and daily use! Many pre-fabricated schools and clinics are designed with a shortened 5-10 year lifespan, to ensure continuous sales of their lightweight panels. Clay bricks are designed and manufactured to handle the rigours of prolonged exposure to the African sun, wind and rain.

Clay bricks have an impressively high load-bearing capacity and the highest dimensional stability and compressive strength of all building materials. These properties also minimise the risk of cracking, ensuring that the structural integrity of buildings are maintained even when the bricks are plastered. Some face brick, engineering and paving products have a compression strength exceeding 50MPa. With moisture expansion never more than 0.2%, and a maximum fire rating as its total incombustibility cannot contribute to the start or spread of fires, a clay brick building can withstand hurricanes, floods or civic unrest. With strikes and violent attacks on schools, factories and civic buildings becoming more common, you want your family and staff to be protected by the solid strength and dependability of clay brick.

No pollutants or toxins are released due to decay, and clay brick are so durable that when the building is demolished, recycling is encouraged. The market for used red clay brick is already substantial, and growing. Clay bricks are inert unlike lightweight fibre cement panels that release silica dust when cut or damaged; silica dust has been linked to silicosis and other lung diseases.

Clay bricks can be trusted to create environmentally responsible living and workspaces for today’s generation and beyond. Clay brick is the most reliable and enduring of all building materials enjoying such widespread and continuous popularity for over 2000 years! Its benefits and properties are so well known and respected, newer building materials and technologies always compare themselves to clay brick, despite being unable to approach its quality or performance as the construction material of choice.

Made entirely from natural materials, clay brick is the benchmark for sustainable and environmentally-friendly construction materials worldwide. Photograph courtesy of Federale Stene

PROFILE Not just for the affluent Clay brick is a highly prized building material, and properties built from clay brick increase in investment value over the decades. Home owners demand and expect their home to last a lifetime, and carefully weigh up long term costs. In the public sector however, pre-fabricated materials and lightweight building systems are often selected for quick erection, to offset the slow delivery of low cost housing and schools – even when the initial price is actually higher to the tax payer. This short-sighted attitude has resulted in excessive energy and maintenance costs for home owners, schools and clinics – those who can least afford it. These buildings deteriorate quickly, and users are disgruntled with the poor quality and shoddy finish. Unfortunately these flimsy structures are also very easy to destroy during civic unrest.

Keeping green during manufacture “We continually investigate best practices and technologies internationally, that reduce pollution and environmental impact for manufacturers,” says At Coetzee, executive director of The Clay Brick Association of South Africa (ClayBrick.org)

Clay brick manufacture and building methods are considered “old fashioned” as brickmaking has been in existence since the first human settlements. However modern brick production has come a long way in the past 15 years, in an effort The Clay Brick Association of South Africa supports the use of the latest technology to maximise the productivity and energy efficiency of its members.

Clay Brick – the greener building material At every stage in its long life, clay bricks are proven to be in a class of their own when it comes to reducing carbon emissions, cutting energy costs and ensuring a sustainable work and home environment for all South Africans.

Local and international comparative research continues to demonstrate why clay brick, as THE ‘green’ building material - one that is not just sustainable, but beautiful and highly desirable as well. As the environmental consciousness of society grows, there will be increasing pressure on building professionals, municipalities and government to incorporate green principles into sustainable construction and living.

We are proud to be at the forefront of sustainable construction materials and methods.

Communicare’s Bothasig Gardens is a social housing developments creating a new standard for integrated human settlements.

Photograph courtesy of Corobrik

Mountain Mill Shopping Centre combines natural clay brick with other building materials.

Photograph courtesy of Worcester Brick

SMART SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR RURAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Stefan Szewczuk

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eliable access to electricity is a basic precondition for improving people’s lives in rural areas, for enhanced healthcare and education, and for growth within local economies. Currently more than 1.5 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity in their homes, with 590 million of these people living in subSaharan Africa. An estimated 80% of these people live in rural areas; most have scant prospects of gaining access to electricity in the near future, unless innovative and robust ways are developed to increase the rate of electrification of these rural communities.

To gain first-hand understanding of the complexity of sustainable energy for rural community development, CSIR undertook a three-year investigative project to explore the linkages between communities, energy, the economy and the environment/ ecosystem as well as identify any projects that could be implemented. Due to its impoverished state, particular attention was given to the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in this project, Szewczuk et al, (2000). During this project an analytical tool was developed that could be used to assist in identifying viable renewable energy opportunities in areas with no prospect of grid electrification in the Eastern Cape Province using wind, hydro and biomasspowered remote area power supply systems.

The analytical tool utilises Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and provides the basis to investigate various scenarios.

Review of literature

A smart sustainable energy system or a hybrid mini-grid combines at least two different kinds of technologies for power generation and distributes the electricity to several consumers through an independent grid. Thus, the mini-grid is supplied by a mix of renewable energy sources (RES) and a genset, generally supplied with diesel, used

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as a back-up. It is a mature and cost-effective technology solution that provides high quality and reliable electricity for lighting, communications, water supply, or motive power, among other services. A smart sustainable energy system functioning as an autonomous entity can provide almost the same quality and services as the national grid.

Moreover, with the proper arrangements, it is technologically possible to connect a mini-grid to the national grid. In countries where the national grid may provide users with only a few hours of electricity a day and which often suffer from blackouts, rural communities served by a smart sustainable energy system conceivably could receive with more reliable service than their fellow urban consumers.

Smart sustainable energy will need to look at the complex green economy policy landscape within the context of rural energy solutions. Within that landscape will be a network of actors and stakeholders and investigations such as that by CSIR and Risø DTU of Denmark, Szewczuk et al (2010). This investigating into the development of a wind energy industrial strategy for South Africa provides an example of how an analysis of stakeholders and their roles can be used by the intended target market (for instance the Department of Trade and Industry), as a reference document in the development of national sector development strategies.

From a technical innovation perspective and in the area of mini-grids and microgrids, prior work has focussed principally upon reviewing technologies, internal capability, developing fundamental science and gaining deployment and simulation experience. Outputs include investigations that describe the state and future of microgrid systems and components, Platt et al (2009) and Szewczuk et al (2001), renewable resource availability in South Africa using geographic information systems (GIS), CSIR

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(2008), and the Wind Atlas for South Africa, Mortesen et al (2012). Reviews were done on software decision support tools for distributed generation, Berry et al (2009), and Kok et al (2009) and micro-grid pilot projects, case studies and simulations, Szewczuk et al (2011) and Berry et al (2010a).

Pilot projects included the hybrid mini-grid energy systems in Hluleka Nature Reserve and Lucingweni village in South Africa, and the work of the University of Fort Hare in Melani village on a biomass gasifier and the lessons learnt on cooperatives versus community trusts in this context.

Socio-economic studies and reports have focussed upon identification of optimal tools for connecting poverty alleviation with energy availability, system dynamics modelling, Greben et al (2005), the development of economic assessment tools for local energy supply, TNO et al (2007) and Montaval et al (2012).

The key to building upon the body of knowledge is to move away from distinct and separated technical and socioeconomic streams, as has principally been the case and to integrate, unify and extend prior work and then to present it in an engaging and thoughtful manner to a wide range of stakeholders

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mini-grid energy systems at Hluleka Nature Reserve and at Lucingweni village. The implementation was carried out by Shell Renewables, Szewczuk, (2006). Figures 1 and 2 show the hybrid mini-grid energy systems at Hluleka Nature Reserve and at Lucingweni village respectively on the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape Province.

Figure 1: Hybrid mini-grid system at Hluleka Nature Reserve

Hybrid mini-grids and smart electrification

Two renewable energy-based projects were identified in the Eastern Cape Province.

With the endorsement of the South African Cabinet, the then Minister of Minerals and Energy mandated the then National Electricity Regulator (NER) to facilitate the implementation of hybrid mini-grids to inform decision- and policy-makers on this form of electrification to compliment the utility scale electrification programme.

The NER contracted the CSIR to develop an implementation plan for the hybrid

Figure 2: Hybrid mini-grid at Lucingweni village Increasingly, the technical opportunity for energising the developing world and in particular remote and rural areas is framed around the concept of mini-grids and decentralised power, as discussed comprehensively by Berry et al (2010a).

This direction is well motivated, alleviating many of the encumbrances that have thus far inhibited the rapid, affordable,

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sustainable and reliable deployment of large-scale centralised energy systems.

Indeed, at least to some extent, the notion of decentralised power has been embraced by the developing world, with Nepal, India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka each hosting between 100 and 1 000 schemes and the World Bank funding more than 30 off-grid projects between 1995 and 2008. There is an opportunity, then, to build on these important and pioneering first steps and move towards something bolder, more holistic and codified.

However, it also needs to be recognised that many mini-grid and decentralised energy efforts in the developing world are often narrow in scope, focussing on delivering meaningful, though very specific, outcomes for a single community rather than a scalable, replicable and financially sustainable solution. Moreover, many such systems become derelict due to poor community fit, inappropriate business models and technical maintenance complexities.

Beyond decentralised electrification is smart electrification. There are truly impressive gains being made in the smart grids space that have not found optimal application in developing world mini-grids, Berry et al (2010b). Smart grid technologies that focus on: • dynamic demand management, • automated battery control, • low-cost renewable energy resource forecasting, • intelligent refrigeration, • optimal grid planning and automated fault detection, and • diagnosis all have the potential to deliver • significant savings, • increased reliability, and • improved energy quality

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in a development and especially low carbon context. But integration of such technologies is non-trivial. This requires: • a reassessment of financial cost, • an understanding of local energy needs, • development of new business models, • community engagement practices, and • an acknowledgement that many of the assumptions which hold in the developed or urban world are much less certain in a development context (i.e. communications availability and reliability, end-use appliances and behaviour patterns).

There is an opportunity to not only explore and qualify the nature of existing systems (and lessons learnt), but to plot a course for widespread, sustainable and fit-for-purpose smart mini-grid solutions in a South African context. Insight and trialling of innovative community engagement practices that are married to small-scale smart grid technologies and decision support tools that highlight smart mini-grid options across the South African landscape (from both an environmental, economic and demographic perspective) will deliver methodologies and documentation for driving technical and policy innovation in this space.

Smart sustainable energy project design and methodology

The “Smart Sustainable Energy for Rural Community Development” Project aims to capture, address and innovate around those challenges and perceptions regarding renewable and clean energy systems and their incorporation into a low carbon economy. With the dual challenge of alleviating poverty through establishing new economic activities based around energy access, the Project plans to make use of various social, business

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model and technological innovations.

The implementation of such innovation will be supported by good research, development and application, with an overarching objective being to gain insight and understanding of the linkages between energy, societal needs and the economy in developing communities, with a view to replicating it into other communities who need it.

Figure 3 provides an overview of the Smart Sustainable Energy for Rural Community Development project and its

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various components. The main components of the project relate in particular to Technical Innovation, Social Innovation and Business Innovation. The Innovation Application and Spin-in Innovation spheres represent more the environment within which the project is planned to operate. In Figure 3 an attempt is made to identify and depict in a pictorial manner the complexity of the overall ecosystem leading to the sustainable development of rural communities and those who find themselves at the Base-of-Pyramid.

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Figure 3: Overview of project design A brief overview of Figure 3 is provided as follows: The introduction of Smart Sustainable Energy involves technical, behavioural, socio-economic and policy aspects.

Successful innovations for the Base-of-thePyramid (BoP) have to be: • Affordable: people with limited financial resources are able to purchase the innovation • Acceptable: the innovation fits with the belief system of people at the BoP • Appropriate: the innovation provides a suitable solution for a user need • Accessible: the innovation is readily available for BoP users, in terms of distribution network as well as the required knowledge to operate and maintain the innovation.

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Smart Sustainable Energy will deliver impact through three streams: • Social Innovation: all aspects related to users being able to adopt the innovation, • Business Innovation: all aspects related to the ecosystem of stakeholders that are involved in delivering the innovation to the user, and • Technical Innovation: all aspects related to the development and application of technologies to enable sustainable and reliable power.

Spin-in innovation The other opportunities presented by the Project are those technical innovations or future developments to energy systems that could be added on or “spun-in” to the Project during its lifetime—recognising that the

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Project is not principally about developing new or cutting edge technologies on PV or battery storage for instance, but rather the smart integration of existing renewable technologies in a mini-grid context.

Innovation application On the periphery of the Project is the broader environment within which the Project operates, influences and is influenced by— namely what we have termed ”Innovation Application”. This includes the institutional and regulatory environments at different levels, together with the services, enterprises, skills and job creation that electrification can benefit, as well as the broader sustainable development imperative of a nation— namely climate change, the green economy and so on.

Discussion

The foundation of the Project is essentially “smart electrification” and integrating technical, social and business innovation in the solution and journey of engagement —Figure 3 provides an overview. However, it must be noted that Figure 3 is based on the combining of field experience based on previous projects that have been implemented. For example, CSIR’s contribution is based on field experience in South Africa’s first hybrid mini-grid energy systems at Hluleka Nature Reserve and Lucingweni village.

There is a genuine opportunity for rural communities to leapfrog the conventional paradigm of power. Where traditional electricity delivery is reliant on expensive, slowly deployed, polluting and centrally controlled generation (with its spider web of infrastructure and dependence on decadesold technologies), these communities can harness innovative, low carbon, renewable, agile, smart and mini-grid/decentralised generation to rapidly deliver tailored,

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appropriate and sustainable energy, potentially with increased speed, reduced cost and importantly better societal and economic fit and outcomes. Such a marked paradigm shift requires technical, social, government and business innovation, engagement and buy-in. This Project will enable the cornerstones of such work to be established in the Eastern Cape, with an ultimate vision of application into broader South Africa and beyond. The components of this design-led innovation will be: • a living roadmap as a platform of knowledge and direction promoting universal energy access, • supported by systemic modelling and simulation decision support tools that can assess the impact of different policy interventions, • exemplified by real-world trialling of pilot smart sustainable energy for selected rural communities in the Eastern Cape, and • deployment of smart sustainable energy solutions with modularity, scalability and associated business cases and livelihood development impact.

These components will be underpinned by an inclusive innovation engagement process with collaboration, cooperation, participation and co-creation across stakeholders at its core, so as to engage and empower citizens, communities, private sector and local government.

This will be together with mechanisms to strengthen the science-policy interface so that the Project can provide the necessary information for policies to be updated, implementation strategies to be developed and exemplified, as well as institutional capacity and decision-making being improved.

The primary objective of executing the components of this project is to develop sustainable financing models.

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Global research alliance The Global Research Alliance (GRA), Figure 4, is a collaboration of nine of the world’s leading applied-research agencies— consisting of CSIR South Africa, CSIRO Australia, TNO The Netherlands, CSIR India, SIRIM Malaysia, Fraunhofer Germany, VTT Finland, DTI Denmark and Batelle USA. The GRA network has the ability to undertake research, create technologies, and leverage knowledge and expertise across virtually all fields of scientific endeavour, from agriculture to advanced manufacturing, energy to environment. The GRA is designed to address national, global as well as future challenges.

Figure 4: GRA logo Drawing upon its diverse membership, the GRA is able to mobilise the most targeted and effective, cross-cultural, and multidisciplinary teams to deliver innovative and affordable solutions to improve the lives of people in developing countries.

The GRA implements its solutions through

partnership-based projects, combining the expertise of researchers with the local knowledge and understanding of communities, development partners, industry and the private sector.

Inclusive Innovation is central to the work of the GRA. Inclusive Innovation is any innovation that leads to affordable access of quality goods and services creating livelihood opportunities for the excluded population, primarily at the base of the pyramid, and on a long-term sustainable basis with a significant outreach.

The GRA believes Inclusive Innovation requires a holistic and new way of approaching demand-driven projects and co-creation with partners such as the end-users.

The GRA aims to develop strong connections and transparent relationships with relevant local organisations and communities in developing countries to work in partnership and with shared commitment to identify needs and collaboratively create solutions to our many global challenges.

Based on the contents of the above chapter and as summarised in Figure 3, the Global Research Alliance has developed a business model for the Smart Sustainable Energy for Rural Communities.

References •

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Berry, A., Cornforth, D.J. and Platt, G.M. (2009), Multi-objective Optimisation and Minigrid Planning. IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Berry, A., Chadwick, M., Cornforth, D., Lindsay, S., Lizier, J. and Prokopenko, M. (2010a) Minigrid Deployment and Operation—Recommended Practices. For the Australian

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Commonwealth Government, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) Berry, A., Chadwick, M., Cornforth, D., Lindsay, S., Lizier, J. and Prokopenko, M. (2010b) Mini-grid Deployment and Operation—Recommended Practices, 2010, For the Australian Commonwealth Government, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA ) CSIR, Eskom and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, (2008) South African Renewable Resource Database and Electrification Planning Tool (RRDB), For the South African Government, Department of Minerals and Energy Greben J., Holloway J., Ramokgopa L., Stylianides T., (2005), Sustainable Development Using Energy as a Catalyst, CSIR Technical Report TR-2005/24, CSIR Centre for Logistics and Decision Support.

Kok, J.K., Scheepers,M.J.J. and Kamphuis, I.G., (2009) “Intelligence in Electricity Networks for Embedding Renewables and Distributed Generation” in Intelligent Infrastructures, Springer, Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation, Science and Engineering Series.

Montalvo, C., Boons, F., Quist, J.N. and Wagner, M. (2012) Sustainable innovation, business models and economic performance: An Overview, Journal of Cleaner Production Mortensen, N., Hanses, J., Kelly, M., Szewczuk, S., Mabille, E. and Prinsloo, E. (2012) Wind Atlas for South Africa, Prepared for SANEDI Platt, G., Cornforth D.J. and Berry, A. (2009) Review of Mini-grid Research and Development around the World. 2009, For the Australian Commonwealth Government, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) Szewczuk S., Fellows, A. and van der Linden, N., (2000), Renewable energy for rural electrification in South Africa, European Commission, FP5 Joule-Thermie Programme.

Szewczuk S., Martens J.W., de Lange T., Morris RM and Zak J, (2001), Strategy to accelerate the market penetration of renewable energy technologies in South Africa, European Commission DG XVII Szewczuk S, (2006), Hybrid mini-grid energy systems: A report for the National Electricity Regulator, CSIR Report No. 86CB/HEDDQ. Szewczuk, S.,Markoe, H., Cronin, T., Lemming J.K. and Clausen, N.E., (2010), Investigation into the development of a wind energy industrial strategy for South Africa, Report prepared for the UNDP and Danida.

Szewczuk, S., Cronin T., Cronje W., Dalglish, A., (2011), Modular form of electrification in rural communities in South Africa, Pre-feasibility report prepared for the South African Royal Danish Embassy.

TNO, ICCO and the Fair Climate Fund, (2007), Sustainable Energy Potential Scan for CDM. Developed and tested in India and Ethiopia.

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The Baynespruit is regarded as one of the most highly polluted rivers in the region with water monitoring results consistently showing the stream has an E. coli level above 5 000 counts per 100 ml nearly 75% of the time.

The safe level for swimming is 130 counts per 100ml. Ten percent of the time the count is above 100 000 per 100 ml, which makes it dangerous for anyone to come into contact with the water in the stream. The key purpose and objective of the Baynespruit Rehabilitation Project is to enhance the water quality of the Baynespruit stream by implementing community based projects to improve ecological infrastructure and to reduce pollution events to the extent that surrounding communities have access to water that is considered safe enough for irrigation of agricultural crops, for fishing and recreational purposes.

His Worship.

The Mayor, CLLR Chris Ndlela For more information on the Baynespruit Rehabilitation Project, please contact: Rodney Bartholomew (033) 392 3240 Rodney.Bartholomew@msunduzi. gov.za or Esmeralda Ramburran (033) 392 3625 Esmeralda.Ramburran@msunduzi. gov.za

South Africa is recognised as a water scarce country therefore it is appropriate to focus efforts on the conservation of natural water resources and maintenance of their ecological integrity. Alternative means by which potable water can be obtained, either through the process of desalinisation and/or recycling water from sanitation processes is often regarded as being socially unacceptable and is in most cases prohibitively expensive. The most cost effective solution to address water and sanitation challenges is to restore and properly manage existing ecological infrastructure such as wetlands and floodplains.

The Msunduzi municipality is a signatory to a Memorandum of Understanding arising from a regional initiative called the Umgeni Ecological

Infrastructure Partnership (UEIP) which seeks to formalise the relationship between authorities and the communities living near or using the rivers and streams and sets out how parties will co-operate with each other in order to facilitate the successful implementation of the UEIP strategy which is to ensure adequate supplies of clean water. The Baynespruit project is the contribution of Msunduzi Municipality to improve water quality and quantity within the Umgeni Catchment area. The Baynespruit stream is approximately nine kilometres in length with its headwaters in the residential area of Northdale and joining the Msunduzi River east of the residential suburb of Sobantu. This relatively small tributary does unfortunately contribute significantly to the poor quality of water within the catchment because of very high pollution loads including industrial effluent, solid waste as well as sewerage contamination due to damaged and poorly utilised sewerage and storm water infrastructure.

THE APPLICATION OF APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES AND SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE SANITATION

Louiza Duncker and Melanie Wilkinson

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ustainable development, which encompasses sustainable sanitation, is defined as development that is appropriate, has the specific objectives of accelerated growth, targeted interventions and community mobilisation to eradicate poverty and focuses on ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources and the ecosystem services they provide. The National Environmental Management Act, No. 107 of 1998, (NEMA) defines sustainable development in South Africa as “the integration of social, economic and environmental factors into planning, implementation and decision-making so as to ensure that development serves present and future generations.”

Indicators of sustainable development need to measure changes in social, economic, environmental and institutional conditions in society over a relatively long period of time. These indicators should not provide only static pictures of different sectors, but should reflect the state of dynamic relationships among these sectors, which will affect longer-term integrated development outcomes in a positive or a negative manner (Lüthi, Panesar, Schütze, Norström, McConville, Parkinson, Saywell & Ingle, 2011).

For decades, progress in the sanitation sector in South Africa has been measured primarily from a singular dimension of sustainability, namely in terms of access to new infrastructure. Despite the country’s commitment to the provision of a sanitation service to individuals in the country, it continues to focus on measuring success and progress only on household access to a toilet facility. The sustainability of sanitation is measured as the sustainability or lifespan of this infrastructure (toilet facility or wastewater treatment works) rather than of the services it was intended to provide and the impact it was supposed to make for

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present and future generations. This focus has led to unsustainable services delivery, broken and unused sanitation facilities, and inefficient investment of resources.

Recent development in the sanitation sector of the country clearly indicates that delivery of basic services cannot continue on its current unsustainable path. A number of sanitation-related incidents and assessments in South Africa have illustrated the problems with this focus on ‘toilet counting’ and not providing a sustainable service as the measure of success in the country. A study

by Bhagwan, Still, Buckley & Foxon (2008) found that the pits of Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) toilets were filling much faster than their design life. A South African Local Government Association (SALGA) report in 2009 cautioned that swift action is needed to avoid a second generation of sanitation backlog that is far more complex than the first. Most municipalities do not know how to deal with full pits, and users do not see this as their responsibility (SALGA, 2009).

The practice of providing a toilet, ticking off the household from the sanitation services backlog list and walking away has resulted in a second generation sanitation backlog in the country, with a growing number of households reverting to old, unimproved sanitation practices.

Similarly, in the waterborne sanitation sector, the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) in 2010 published the Green Drop Report on the quality of waterborne sanitation services being provided and the quality of wastewater effluent of 444 wastewater treatment plants operated by municipalities in South Africa. Wastewater treatment plants that adhered to certain minimum operating standards received Green Drop certification. However, only 7.4% of the 444 wastewater treatment plants achieved Green Drop certification in 2010.

According to SALGA, a growing number of

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new flush toilets malfunction, particularly those built swiftly to meet bucket eradication targets. The number of sewage spills from overloaded systems is rising steadily. In relation to waterborne systems and bucket eradication projects, many wastewater plants are poorly maintained and under-staffed, raising the question as to whether we have the skills to achieve safe and effective wastewater treatment on the scale required. The majority of works are discharging poorly treated effluent—raw sewage, in some places—which puts the health of downstream users at risk, feeds algal blooms that choke the environment and, under certain conditions, breeds toxins that endanger human health (SALGA, 2009).

In 2012, a report on the Status of Sanitation Services in South Africa (DWA, The Presidency and Department of Human Settlements, 2012) indicated that as many as 26% (or about 3,2 million) households are at risk of service failure, 9% (or 1,4 million) households are in formal settlements that have no services and 64% (584 378) households are in informal settlements making use of interim services.

South Africa has also experienced a series of service delivery protests in various cities and towns of the country during the last decade. According to a 2010 survey conducted by the Community Law Centre (CLC) at the University of the Western Cape, in the 523 documented community protests that occurred between 2007 and mid-2010, at least 15% of protests complained about the lack of adequate sanitation (Jain, 2010).

These sanitation issues and assessments quite clearly show that the sanitation services presently being provided have serious flaws and are not sustainable. The minister of the new Department of Water and Sanitation said that both water and sanitation issues are a priority for the department (SANews, 2014), but then elaborated on the issues

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around water and improving access to water supply in conjunction and in partnership with the affected consumers. However, apart from water issues, the sector needs specifically to focus its efforts on provision of sanitation services that meet the sustainable development imperatives required for the country.

Background

The internationally recognised right to water and sanitation places an obligation on states to ensure that all individuals have access to water and sanitation services that is accessible, sufficient, safe, affordable and appropriate. These services must be available to all, without discrimination and must be transparent in how services are delivered and the standards that are being met in delivering the service. Transparency also requires adequate mechanisms for complaints and means to hold states accountable when service delivery standards are not being met (Roaf, 2013).

The South African Constitution (1996), which is the cornerstone of all policy and legislation in the country, does not directly refer to the right to sanitation, but does implicitly express this right through the right of all citizens to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing. The water legislation of the country legitimises this right as all South Africans having a right to access to basic sanitation services (Wilkinson and Duncker, 2014). National government placed an obligation on every water services authority to, in its water services development plan, provide for measures to progressively realise this right.

The right to a basic sanitation service in South Africa does not only imply provision of access to a basic sanitation facility (generally accepted as a VIP toilet), but also includes that the facility is easily accessible, operated sustainability and communication

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of/training in good sanitation, hygiene and related practices occurred. Provision of a sustainable sanitation services in the country, whether basic or higher levels of service, requires local government to provide a package of sanitation-related interventions to households, not just the built infrastructure.

Provision of sustainable sanitation services in South Africa is becoming more challenging for a number of reasons, such as increased demand, deteriorating water availability, escalating costs per capita, and the poor operation and maintenance of present sanitation systems (Duncker, Kruger, Matsebe & Sebake, 2014). These concerns relate to the type of technologies provided and the appropriateness of technology to meet the social, economic and environmental requirements for which it is designed. Decision-makers, at community, local and national levels, need to be aware of the policy, social, economic, financial, institutional and environmental framework in which appropriate technology may be provided in the sector—with choice not only limited to conventional systems— and need to make informed and educated decisions related to technology choice.

Sustainable sanitation and the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals

Water supply and sanitation in South Africa is not only characterised by challenges, but has also shown some significant achievements in the past two decades. In early 1994, more than 21 million people were without access to basic sanitation (DWAF, 1994). Through the Constitution of South Africa and a number of sanitation-related policies and legislation, the government committed itself to universal access for all its citizens to potable water and at least a basic sanitation service, to be achieved through

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progressively addressing basic services backlogs, by 2014.

According to the 2014 Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) the country made good progress with regard to improving access to basic water supply—it reached universal access to improved water sources in urban areas and increased access to improved water services in rural areas from 81% in 1990 to 95% in 2012 (WHO/UNICEF, 2014). However, slower progress has been achieved regarding sanitation—access to basic sanitation increased from 75% in 1990 to 92% in 2012 in urban areas and from 40% in 1990 to only 62% in 2012 in rural areas (WHO/UNICEF, 2014). The biggest challenge regarding the provision of sanitation services in the country is the lack of long term finances and weak or non-existent skills to maintain the sanitation services provided by government through various funding systems, such as the sanitation subsidy, free basic sanitation for house-holds, as well as the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funding.

The world is moving into a new phase of development goals. The Millennium Development Goals, which were originally targeted for 2015, were reviewed and updated to address current challenges in the development sector, resulting in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (WHO/UNICEF, 2014). Goals moved from simple measure of an individual having, or not having, access to sanitation, to the sustainability of this access that has been achieved by the individual. The proposed targets for sanitation in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals are, by 2030, that open defecation has been eliminated; there is universal access to basic drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for households, schools and healthcare facilities; the proportion of the population without

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access at home to safely managed drinking water and sanitation services has been halved; and there is progressive elimination of inequalities in access. Safely managed sanitation services are defined by the JMP as the regular use of a basic sanitation facility that is an improved sanitation facility that separates human excreta from human contact, and that is shared amongst no more than five households or 30 persons, whichever is fewer, if the users know each other) at the household level; and the safe management of faecal sludge at the household, neighbourhood, community and city levels through the proper emptying of sludge from on-site septic tanks, transport of the sludge to a designated disposal/ treatment site and/or reuse of excreta as needed and as appropriate to the local context (WHO/UNICEF, 2014).

Sustainability of sanitation services delivery in SA

South Africa is defined as a water-stressed country with an uneven distribution of water availability across the country, water

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shortages due to a combination of climate change; increasing demand on the resource; and declining quality of water supplies.

All these water-related concerns impact on sanitation services provision in the country. Similarly, incorrect or inappropriate sanitation services result in increased cost of water treatment as expenditure needs to mitigate pollution impacts from human systems. Fortunately, technologies and practices exist that open up opportunities for decoupling unsustainable resource use from growth and poverty eradication strategies (DEAT, 2006).

To ensure inclusion of all sustainability aspects into sanitation services delivery in the country will require delivery of a service in a manner that considers three pillars for sustainability, i.e. economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental security.

Sustainable sanitation services provision is achieved through the balancing of these sustainability pillars (see Figure 1).

Considering that provision of a sanitation service includes provision of infrastructure, a fourth pillar for sustainable sanitation could

Figure 1: Sustainability pillars for sustainable services provision

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be included—that of structural integrity and functioning of the infrastructure itself, i.e. appropriate technology. Ideally, in providing a sustainable sanitation service, not one of the sustainability pillars shown in Figure 1 should be favoured at the expense of the other (Wilkinson, to be published).

Institutional support for services provision underpins the pillars of sustainability, as without the institution to support provision of this service, sustainability will likely fail. Verhagen and Carrasco (2013), in the IRC Framework for Non-sewered Sanitation Services, stated that sanitation is a public good, hence national and local governments have a key responsibility to ensure that sanitation services last for all. Any sanitation service model needs to address the full sanitation chain, which includes safe and hygienic collection, storage, and safe and final disposal or the productive uses of human excreta. This Framework identified four key parameters for sustainable sanitation services (Verhagen and Carrasco, 2013): • Easy and safe access to a clean operating toilet that offers the user privacy throughout the year.

• Hygienic use of the toilet by all, when in and around the house, and equipped with an accessible hand-washing facility.

• Adequate operation and maintenance (O&M), and repair and replacement to ensure that the toilet is usable.

• Safe and final disposal of faecal sludge to ensure environmental protection.

These parameters need to be underpinned by four components to ensure continuous use of sanitation facilities, which are the following (Verhagen and Carrasco, 2013): • Creation of demand to use the toilet facility and continuous advocacy to change the sanitation-related behaviours of community members.

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• An enabling environment to support the delivery of sanitation services to all.

• Strengthening of the supply chain.

• Well-aligned financial arrangements and well-directed incentives that support efficient service delivery and promote the use of toilets by all.

Thus, the delivery of sustainable services requires that systems are set up to ensure that the most appropriate infrastructure is provided and is properly managed; timely repairs are made in case of breakdown, and infrastructure can be renewed and replaced at the end of its useful life. This must be supported by capacity to extend delivery systems and improve services delivery in response to changes in demand.

However, many studies have shown that social aspirations and norms generally drive decision-making and acceptance of technologies by users in the sanitation sector (Duncker, 2000; Duncker & Matsebe, 2004; Drangert, Duncker, Matsebe and Atukunda, 2006; Duncker, Matsebe & Austin, 2006; Matsebe, 2012). Considering individuals’ wants, expectations, desires and acceptance are generally attempted in determining the sanitation service that will be provided to households in the country, but the financial resources/ expenditure in establishing the service is currently the overriding factor (Wilkinson and Pearce, 2012).

Ecologically sustainable sanitation services

One of the key challenges in South Africa is that sanitation services provision and decision-making are generally onedimensional, focussing on the technology aspects of provision of this service. This has been evident in many cases in the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of many municipalities responsible for services

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provision, as well as in the general lack of, or low level of, maintenance of facilities (SALGA, 2009). Sanitation services provision is underpinned by natural resource use, as many sanitation technologies require water for operation, all technologies require water for maintenance (i.e. cleaning, etc), and all technologies discharge human excreta either into soil or into water resources.

Being a product of a living organism, human excreta are a natural part of ecological cycles. Excreta enter ecological cycles in various manners based on the type of sanitation facility being used by the individual. Human waste consists chiefly of plant nutrients based on the elements nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous; undigested organic matter, i.e. fibres made up of carbon; and pathogens (Winblad & Simpson-Hébert, 2004). As a result, human waste products are components of the nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous biological cycles.

Human waste should be viewed as an important component of the soil nutrient cycle and should decompose within this cycle (exactly as animal waste does). The resulting nutrients and elements can be taken up for use by plants, humans consume these plants and the cycle begins again (left hand cycle in Figure 2).

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Sustainable sanitation services provision should, therefore, be focussed on maintaining these soil nutrient cycles and protecting other ecological resources used and affected by the provision of sanitation services. Unfortunately, much of the sanitation services provided and utilised in the country focus on excretion of soil nutrients into the water cycles, resulting in pollution and contamination of this cycle (right-hand circle in Figure 2).

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) Framework was developed in 2005 to focus specifically on the relationship between ecosystem services and human wellbeing (MEA, 2005). An ecosystem service in the MEA Framework is a service that an ecosystem provides to benefit people (MEA, 2005). The MEA recognises four categories of services provided to humans by ecosystems, namely: • Supporting services, which are a set of ecosystem services that include nutrient and water recycling, soil formation and primary production. These services capture the basic ecosystem functions and processes that underpin all other services. As demonstrated in Figure 2, ecosystems provide a service of nutrient recycling of the content of human excreta and also acts as a ‘sink’ for pollutants that

Figure 2: Implication of sanitation facilities on natural resource cycles

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arise from waste management. Provision of sustainable sanitation services would recognise this role played by ecosystem services and will ensure that positive impacts of services provision on support services is maximised and negative impacts are minimised.

• Regulating services, which are services such as water purification, air quality regulation, climate regulation, disease regulation, or natural hazard regulation, which affect the impact of shocks and stresses to socio-ecological systems and are indirectly used, being intermediate, in the provision of cultural or provisioning services. Sustainable sanitation services provision should recognise the very important role of these ecosystem services, especially the role that ecosystems play in minimising sanitation-related diseases. In selecting and designing sustainable sanitation services, the services that maximise the disease regulation benefit played by ecosystems should receive priority.

For example, selection of a sanitation facility should ensure that, throughout the life-span of the facility, the system operates within the ecosystem in a manner that sanitation-related diseases are minimised.

• Provisioning services, often referred to as ecosystem ‘goods’, such as foods, fuels, fibres, bio-chemicals, medicine, and genetic material, are in many cases directly consumed. A sustainable sanitation service ensures that the service does not negatively impact on provisioning services provided by ecosystems. For example, a sustainable sanitation service will ensure that food and water supply provision services are not negatively impacted.

• Cultural services, such as religious, spiritual, inspirational and aesthetic

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well-being derived from ecosystems, recreation, and traditional and scientific knowledge, are used directly by people and are therefore open to valuation. A sustainable sanitation service ensures that the service does not negatively impact on these cultural services provided by ecosystems. For example, a sustainable sanitation service will ensure that water resources that are utilised for cultural practices and ceremonies are not negatively impacted.

Humans, and their cultural diversity, are recognised as an integral part of socioecological systems and human wellbeing.

Any change in the human condition (i.e. provision of sanitation services) would directly and indirectly drive change in ecosystems; and with changes in ecosystems, changes in human wellbeing occur.

Sustainable sanitation services need to recognise the ecosystem on which they impact and from which they benefit, and protect these to ensure ecosystem services provided to the sanitation and other sectors of the country are maintained, and if possible, enhanced.

In addition to maintaining a healthy environment to live in, sustainable sanitation systems will need to promote reuse and recycling of water, nutrient and energy.

As the shortage of finite resources becomes more apparent and the prices for water, fertiliser and energy continue to rise, this becomes ever more important.

Sustainable sanitation services will need to utilise ecosystems within the bounds of sustainable use, minimising the negative impacts on resources as well as protecting the ecosystem services on which human beings are so dependent.

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Social equity in sustainable sanitation services

Socially equitable sanitation services imply that there is equity in access and equity in the benefits that arise from provision of the sanitation services.

Equity in access to sustainable sanitation services To achieve equity in access to sanitation services would require that all South Africans have access to at least a basic sanitation service. To achieve equity in access does not imply that local authorities decide which services will be provided to a household, but rather that access is determined jointly, with active participation of individuals.

Sustainable sanitation services need to be demand driven.

The right to participation is enshrined in numerous international human rights instruments, such as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948), which sets out in Art. 21(a) that everyone has the right to take part in the government of his or her country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

Article 2(1) of the Declaration on the Right to Development (UN, 1986), though not legally binding, characterises the human being as “the central subject of development” and an “active participant and beneficiary of the right to development“.

Article 2(3) of the Declaration requires participation to be “active, free and meaningful”, and Article 8(2) calls on countries to “encourage popular participation in all spheres”.

The Aarhus Convention and its Protocol (UNECE, 1998) state that information in the hands of the public enables it to play a meaningful role in shaping a sustainable future, and that progress in sustainable development and in greening the economy is directly dependent on the

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meaningful engagement of civil society in decision-making.

Participation is a key principle in the Constitution of South Africa and in the policy and legislative instruments which govern and regulate the county.

Effective access to information, public participation and access to justice are essential for transparent and accountable governance, for high-quality outcomes of the decision-making and to strengthen trust of public in governing institutions.

Mjoli (2010) stated that case studies of rural sanitation projects demonstrated that involving local people in the implementation of sanitation projects contributed to the creation of the demand for sanitation and community ownership of sanitation facilities; and that poor involvement of local communities in India in the planning of basic sanitation projects was the major cause of failure of sanitation projects.

These case studies showed that poor communities were willing to contribute to the improvement of their sanitation facilities provided they were recognised as equal partners in the development process (Mjoli, 2010).

It is necessary for a number of elements to be put into place in order for participation to be active, free and meaningful.

These elements should be such as those set out during the Aarhus Convention (UNECE, 1998): • timely and effective notification to the concerned public, • reasonable time frames for participation, including provision for participation at an early stage, • a right for the concerned public to inspect information relevant to the decision-making process at no cost, • an obligation on the decision-making body to take due account of the outcome of public participation, and

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• prompt public notification of the decision, with the text of the decision and the reasons and considerations on which it is based made publicly accessible.

In order to ensure participatory sanitation services delivery in South Africa, a policy and legislative framework needs to be very detailed in setting out the institutions and the procedures that will enable participation of consumers at the various stages of decision-making in the services delivery process. The public’s participation in relation to each specific step or task should be explained and the responsible entity clearly identified, otherwise the right to participation will remain vague and merely aspirational.

A variety of methods needs to be used to capture the diversity of issues, needs and interests in developing comprehensive and inclusive water and sanitation laws, policies and strategies. Understanding that a sustainable sanitation services is not just the facility (as discussed above), but rather equitable access to a basic sanitation facility that is being operated sustainably and to communication of/training in good sanitation, hygiene and related practices.

Operation and maintenance of sanitation facilities in the provision of sanitation services is often under-resourced, with little consideration given to the medium- to longer-term requirements of a sanitation system by both the implementers and the consumers/users. South Africa makes provision for equity in access to a sustainably operated sanitation facility through making available a Free Basic Sanitation (FBSan) subsidy to each household. This subsidy, which stems from the Local Government Equitable Share budget, is available to cover the hygiene promotion costs and the operating costs of providing a basic sanitation service to households.

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The FBSan subsidy is provided to service providers as an operating cost calculated as a subsidy per household per month.

The Division of Revenue Bill (DoRA) of 2013 indicates that the local government equitable share has been increased to address the rising costs of providing free basic services to poor households to R278 per month in 2013/14 for the cost of providing basic services to each of these households (South Africa, 2013). The allocation to each municipality is calculated by multiplying this monthly subsidy by the number of households below the affordability threshold in each municipal area, including R72.04 per household per month for each household in a municipality that falls below this threshold (South Africa, 2013). Ideally, according to Lüthi, Panesar, Schütze, Norström, McConville, Parkinson, Saywell & Ingle (2011), a long-term vision for a sustainable sanitation system should be to avoid the use of subsidies in household systems as much as possible, since this tends to suppress the willingness of households to use their own financial resources and lead to a culture of dependency in which residents expect external support to improve their household toilet. At the same time, subsidised sanitation systems fail to install a sense of ownership, which undermines an interest and willingness to maintain the facilities (WSSCC, 2009).

However, poor households may still require assistance, either through direct financial subsidy or by offering subsidised materials and technical assistance for construction.

The communication of/training in good sanitation, hygiene and related practices of a sustainable sanitation service is provided as a component of the subsidy provided to poor household for a basic sanitation service. However, this component is very often ‘lost’ in providing the service, with the hygiene promotion and awareness often

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being ad hoc and limited in duration. The funds allocated to this component are often utilised for the facility itself and not applied to provide communication of/training in good sanitation, hygiene and related practices, which is a critical component of sustainable sanitation services provision (Duncker, Wilkinson, Du Toit, Koen, Kimmie & Dudeni, 2008).

Equity in the benefits from sustainable service provision The benefits of sustainable sanitation services are wider than just having a toilet; it is about dignity, safety, privacy and health, which are the cornerstones for poverty reduction, increased wellbeing and improvement in quality of life. Access to a safe and adequate sanitation facility and service have positive impacts on health through preventing the spread of waterborne and sanitation-related diseases.

Adequate sanitation services will also have impacts on the economy by means of decreasing illness and absenteeism, thus increasing productivity.

Sanitation services will not have any significant impact on health (the main reason for having a toilet) without awareness raising on good hygiene behaviour.

There is much evidence to show that the greatest health benefits can be attained by effective changes to hygiene behaviour, if the hygiene promotion components of sanitation programmes are conducted in a systematic and rigorous manner (Duncker, et al., 2008; Tsibani, 2010 and Mjoli, 2010).

Sufficient time and contact between health promoters and households are needed to facilitate and establish changed attitudes and behaviour (Duncker & Matsebe, 2006; Maposa, Duncker & Ngorima, 2012).

The Water Sanitation and Health (WASH) campaign, which was launched in South Africa in 2002, targeted the general public

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with health and hygiene messages designed to create an awareness of the importance of good hygiene practices in improving health. In 2003, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), in partnership with Unilever, officially launched the WASH campaign for schools in the country. The campaign promoted hand-washing with soap as an effective means of saving lives.

Findings of a DWAF assessment on the impact of hygiene promotion activities to prevent cholera in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape provinces showed that in all villages studied no cholera incidences occurred after communities were provided with sanitation infrastructure and health and hygiene education (Tsibani, 2010).

The communication of/training in good sanitation, hygiene and related practices can play a significant role in stimulating demand for the service, ensuring participation in the process and supporting the long-term acceptance and sustainability of the services provided to the household. Sustainable sanitation service provision MUST ensure that robust, on-going sanitation awareness and promotion interventions are part of the service provided.

Poverty reduction is one of the drivers of social and economic development in South Africa. The delivery of sanitation is Government’s response to the needs of the poor, because improvement in access to basic water and sanitation is the first step towards improving the quality of life (DEAT, 2006).

To stimulate a demand for improved sanitation there is a need to focus on the benefits of access to sustainable sanitation from the perspective of the users, for example marketing for convenience, prestige and status, cleanliness, privacy, and safety (notably for women).

The provision of adequate and safe sustainable sanitation services to both

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urban and rural residential areas and public institutions in South Africa, such as schools and clinics, must be accompanied by access to water supply services, particularly for drinking, for washing hands, and for caring for the sick, indigent and marginalised groups in the community (Tsibani, 2011).

Economically efficient sustainable sanitation services

Economic efficiency in the provision of sustainable sanitation services requires well-aligned financial arrangements and well-directed incentives that support efficient services delivery and promote the use of toilets by all (Wilkinson & Duncker, 2014). This requires decision-makers to consider the entire life-cycle cost of providing sanitation services to a household.

In a life-cycle cost approach, costs are assessed and compared in relation to the level of service received by users/ consumers. Sanitation service levels are ranked in a ‘sanitation ladder’—from no service to high level of service—based on the level of functioning, rather than the technology. Each step up the sanitation ladder requires a different combination of infrastructure, management systems and human resources. Identifying the level of service received by users allows planners and providers of services to use cost data to guide policy decisions that go beyond building or providing infrastructure (Potter, Klutse, Snehalatha, Batchelor, Uandela, Naafs, Fonseca & Moriarty, 2011). Information on service levels helps governments, investors, donors and service authorities to make costeffective decisions on investments, whether this pertains to planning for the replacement of infrastructure, and/or extending delivery systems in response to increasing demand.

Sanitation programme designers and decision-makers should therefore

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conduct thorough assessments of the real maintenance costs, and the consumers’/ users’ willingness and ability to pay for these costs. Furthermore, arrangements should be in place to cover the full costs, whether through community-based cash income-generation, microcredit, local taxation, and/or subsidies. Applying a lifecycle cost approach will support planning for sanitation and hygiene technologies and services that last and are not inappropriate.

Appropriate sustainable sanitation technology

One avenue of addressing the concerns related to inappropriate sanitation services provision is through the use of technologies that are appropriate to the social, economic and environmental requirements of the local context within which the technology has to be implemented. In the sanitation sector, as stated in the Strategic Framework for Water Services (2003), technology does not only refer to the engineering and infrastructural aspects—the ‘hardware’—but includes ‘software’ issues, such as health and hygiene awareness and promotion.

While there are numerous definitions of appropriate technology, an internationally accepted definition is a technology that is designed with special consideration of the environmental, ethical, cultural, social and economic aspects of the community it is intended for. An appropriate technology is not, and should not be viewed as, a secondbest solution or a universal substitute for conventional technology. Appropriate technologies, which include conventional technologies, are complementary or supplementary, not contradictory, to one another, depending on the circumstances or context (Duncker, Kruger, Matsebe & Sebake, 2014). According to Brikké and Bredero (2003), international experience has shown that factors commonly undermining

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the sustainability of water services are that the project was poorly conceived (e.g. a project that only increased the number of water points, or sanitation facilities, as a way of improving accessibility to these services, without considering the wider range of factors needed to sustain the benefits); the project did not sufficiently involve the community or beneficiaries, who therefore did not feel that the project was theirs and

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did not take responsibility and ownership of the technology/project (as a result, demand for improved services suffered, and the services became unsustainable) and the performance of the project facilities was either not assessed, or was insufficiently monitored during the O&M phase of the project cycle. As a result, Brikké and Bredero (2003) identified critical and interrelated factors to consider for sustainability

Technical factors

• technology selection, • complexity of the technology, • the technical capacity of the system to respond to demand and provide the desired service level, • the technical skills needed to operate and maintain the system, • the availability, accessibility and cost of spare parts, and • the overall costs of operation and maintenance (O&M).

Community factors

• the demand or perceived need for an improved service, • the feeling of ownership, • community participation (men/women, social groups) in all project phases, including planning, designing, constructing and managing the services, and in the O&M of the services, • the capacity and willingness to pay, • management through a locally organised and recognised group, • the financial and administrative capacity of management, and • the technical skills to operate and maintain the service, implement preventive maintenance activities and perform minor and major repairs are all present in the community.

Environmental factors

• socio-cultural aspects, • individual, domestic and collective behaviour regarding the links between health, water, hygiene and sanitation, • the quality of the water source (this will determine whether the water needs to be treated, and will influence the technology choice), • adequate protection of the water source/point, • the quantity of water and continuity of supply, and • the impact of wastewater or excreta disposal on the environment.

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Legal and institutional framework

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• clear policies and strategies that support sustainability, • support activities for operation and maintenance, such as technical assistance, training, monitoring and setting up effective financing mechanisms, and • incentives and penalties to enforce legal requirements.

Table 1: Critical factors for sustainable water and sanitation service provision (taken from Brikké and Bredero, 2003)

and appropriateness of services. These were the technical, the community, the environmental, the legal and the institutional framework, which are all supported by, and dependent on, a financial dimension (see Table 1). These critical factors were adopted in the Final Draft Strategy for Mainstreaming Appropriate Technology in the Water Sector (Duncker, et al., 2014) in South Africa.

A number of low-cost sewerage and sanitation technologies are available in South Africa that could be viable and appropriate in rural and urban areas, such as dry systems, recycling systems, small-bore and low-cost sewerage systems. However, technology choice has been largely decided upon by the per capita limits linked to the different funding mechanisms, such as subsidies, and the technical functionality of the technology.

Implementing agents, together with engineering consultants, did consider alternative technologies for sanitation infrastructure in terms of technical, financial, institutional, social, environmental, operations and maintenance and legal factors, which are the building blocks for appropriateness and sustainability. But the overriding factor was clearly capital costs because including the costs for ensuring appropriate sustainable sanitation infrastructure caused the proposed schemes

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to be outside the available budget. As a result, several schemes are now unable to sustain themselves due to a lack of cost recovery from consumers and/or a lack of funding for operation and maintenance of systems (Muller, Schreiner, Smith, Van Koppen, Sally, Aliber, Cousins, Tapela, Van der Merwe-Botha, Karar & Pietersen, 2009).

This indicates that inadequate attention has been paid to the sustainability of the scheme/s in terms of operation and maintenance, as well as acceptance by the consumers. It does not necessarily reflect inappropriateness of the technology in a technical sense, but it does pose the question of whether value for money would have been achieved better in the longer term, i.e. in terms of the operations, maintenance and acceptance of technology, if financial considerations were not the overriding factor.

Institutional environment and arrangements for sustainable sanitation

Many municipalities in South Africa are battling to meet the demands for sanitation services provision in their jurisdictions, especially in rapidly expanding informal settlements, as conventional sewerage systems require vast investments and tend to be expensive to operate and maintain.

Conventional sewerage systems also

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depend on a well-resourced institutional set-up, with advanced regulatory and enforcement frameworks and well-trained staff to function properly (Lüthi, et al.

2011). This proved that the vast majority of households in South Africa, especially in the rural areas, will need to be served by some form of on-site sanitation system for the foreseeable future.

Sustainable sanitation services provision requires that the institutional environment and arrangements are in place and clearly articulated to the sanitation sector. The institutional environment includes that sustainable sanitation policy, legislation and strategies are in place to facilitate rapid and sustainable deliverable of these services.

South Africa, despite having some of the most progressive water-related policies and legislation, still demonstrates serious gaps in policies and legislations related to sustainable sanitation services provision, particularly in terms of equity, sanitation in the ecological environment, and means of economic efficiencies in the sector.

These gaps urgently need to be addressed to change South Africa’s path from crisis management to one of sustainable services provision.

Similarly, institutional arrangements, including sanitation organisations, financial mechanisms and relationships in the sector are often weak or combatant in the sanitation sector. South Africa has devolved responsibility for provision of sanitation services to municipalities, which are often under-resourced, both financially and in human capacity and skills, to perform this function. Similarly at a national level, sanitation service regulations and supervision/oversight are shared in a disjointed manner by a number of national departments ( Wilkinson, Sharaunga, Flanagan & Magagula, 2012). However, legislative supervision is the responsibility of

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the Minister of Water and Sanitation. Recent development in the sector has reinforced the Minister’s responsibility for sanitation in that the term ‘sanitation’ was included in the name of the Department under her ambit.

This has finally clarified and undoubtedly articulated that this Minister is responsible for the sanitation sector.

Conclusion

Sustainability, by its nature, deals with the future. It is concerned with the likelihood that services will continue to function and provide benefits to users/ consumers for the indefinite future. South Africa has come a long way in providing basic water and sanitation services, even though many challenges still remain in a constantly changing environment of revised policies and responsible departments.

Improved governance, management and accountability to the public at all levels of government are important elements to make a legislative and human right to water and sanitation a reality.

In essence, the focus of sanitation services delivery needs to shift from increasing access to and use of toilets (getting onto the sanitation ladder) to participative, effective and efficient establishment, operation and maintenance (O&M) and safe disposal, or productive use, of human excreta to protect the environment and humankind.

Appropriateness is the key to sustainability —not only the appropriateness of the technology or toilet in its context, but also appropriateness for the environment (bio-physical, social, political, economic).

Sanitation should be viewed holistically as a service, with infrastructure provision only being one part of it. Providing infrastructure is far less intricate and complex than the planning, operation, maintenance and management of toilets and wastewater treatment plants. True sustainability of

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a sanitation service means it continues uninterrupted over time, is ecologically sensitive, inclusive and well-governed in the process. Sustainable sanitation services provision requires that both decisionmakers and users make informed choices, and it considers all sustainability pillars.

The sanitation sector needs to make a mind-shift regarding legislation, processes

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and procedures that underpin the current unsustainable services provision. The establishment of the new Department of Water and Sanitation offers a golden opportunity to renew focus on sustainable sanitation and to grab the chance to embark on a new trajectory of sustainable sanitation services provision in the country. Let’s accept the challenge.

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Brikké, F. and Bredero, M. 2003. Linking technology choice with operation and maintenance in the context of community water supply and sanitation: A reference document for planners and project staff. World Health Organization and IRC Water and Sanitation Centre, Geneva.

DEAT. 2006. People—Planet—Prosperity: A Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development in South Africa. Draft discussion document for public comment, 29 September 2006. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pretoria.

Drangert, J-O, Duncker, L., Matsebe, G. & Abu Atukunda, V. 2006. Ecological Sanitation, Urban Agriculture and gender in peri-urban settlements: a comparative study of three sites in Kimberley in South Africa and Kampala, Kabale and Kisoro in Uganda. SAREC Report No SWE-2002-136(13). University of Linköping, Sweden.

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Lüthi, C., Panesar, A., Schütze, T., Norström, A., McConville, J., Parkinson, J., Saywell, D. & Ingle, R. 2011. Sustainable sanitation in cities – a framework for action. Sustainable Sanitation Alliance. Papiroz Publishing House, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.

Maposa, S., Duncker, L. & Ngorima, E. 2012. Defining and Delivering Appropriate Technology for Sustainable Access to Safe Drinking Water in Un- and Under Serviced Rural South Africa. 2012 UNESCO Chair in Technologies for Development International Conference, 29 -31 May 2012. Lausanne, Switzerland.

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SA News. 2014. New Water, Sanitation Minister to hit the ground running. In: South African Government News Agency. 28 May 2014. URL: http://www.sanews.gov.za/ south-africa/new-water-sanitation-minister-hit-ground-running (Accessed on 30 May 2014).

South Africa. 1996. Constitution of Republic of South Africa. Government Printers: Pretoria.

South Africa. 1998. National Water Act No. 36 of 1998. Government Printers: Pretoria.

South Africa. 2013. Division of Revenue Act (DoRA). Government Printers: Pretoria.

Tsibani, G. 2010. Achieving access to basic sanitation for all by 2010. Paper presented at the WISA Conference, 04 May 2004. Cape Town.

UNECE. 1998. The Aarhus Convention. Adopted in the Danish city of Aarhus at the Fourth Ministerial Conference in the ‘Environment for Europe’ process on 25th June 1998. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Geneva, Switzerland.

United Nations. 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948. Geneva, Switzerland. URL: http:// www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml (Accessed on 22 May 2014).

United Nations. 1996. The International Bill of Human Rights. June 1996. Geneva, Switzerland. URL: http://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/factsheet2rev.1en. pdf (Accessed on 22 May 2014).

Verhagen, J. and Carrasco, M. 2013. Full-chain Sanitation Services that Last: Nonsewered Sanitation Services. IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. July 2013.

The Hague, Netherlands.

Winblad & Simpson-Hebert. 2004. Ecological sanitation. Revised and Enlarged Edition.

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). Stockholm, Sweden.

Wilkinson, M.J. and Duncker, L.C. 2014. Towards the effective use of sanitation subsidies: a guide. WRC report no TT592/14. ISBN: 9781431205462. Water Research Commission, Pretoria.

Wilkinson, M. and Pearce, D. 2012. The perceived and substantiated drivers of change in the economic and social cost of construction of subsidised sanitation facilities. Report to the WRC for K5/2136: Sanitation subsidies in perspective. November 2012. Water Research Commission, Pretoria.

Wilkinson, M., Sharaunga, S., Flanagan, J. and Magagula, T. 2012. Report on integration of national and municipal subsidised sanitation policy, processes and procedures and means to address the drivers of change in the facility costs. Report to the WRC for K5/2136: Sanitation subsidies in perspective. February 2012. Water Research Commission, Pretoria.

WHO/UNICEF. 2014. Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: Update 2014. WHO/ UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. WHO Press, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. URL: http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/ user_upload/resources/JMP_report_2014_webEng.pdf (Accessed 19 May 2014).

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PROFILE

KOBWA- WATER FOR EVER 1948 South Africa and Swaziland Agree to utilize the Komati River

1969 South Africa, Mozambique and Swailand begin technical meetings

1978 South Africa and Swaziland form the Joint Project Technical Committee, later to be the Joint Water Committee

1998 construction of Maguga Dam starts and completed in 2002

1989 South Africa and Swaziland decide to implement Driekoppies and Maguga Dams

1992 South Africa and Swaziland sign the Komati River Basin Treaty. the Komati Basin Water Authority is formed

1991 the Piggs Peak Agreement is signed by South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.

Countries agree on a minimum flof on 2 Cumecs to Ressano Garcia

1993 construction of Driekoppies Dam commences and starts storing water in 1997

Operations and Maintanance phase follows after construction of 2 Dams is completed

VISION To be an International Centre of Excellence in Integrated Trans-Boundary Water Resource Development and Management

MISSION To Stimulate and Facilitate Development within the Komati Basin And Avail our Services to Other Basins in Line With The Party States’ Development Strategies

PROFILE

ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES KOBWA’s organisational values are; • Service with loyalty, trust and ethics to the best and sole interest of KOBWA and the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland; • Conduct business in a manner that is international, professional, neutral, transparent and equitable to Parties and other key stakeholders; • Practice integrity in all official and private business transactions; • Equity and inclusivity regardless of race, gender, physical ability and/or ethnicity; • Customer and stakeholder orientation, flexibility and responsiveness The Komati Basin Water Authority (KOBWA) is a bi-national entity formed in 1993 through the Treaty on the Development and Utilization of the Water Resources of the KOMATI River Basin which was signed in 1992. The agreement was between the Kingdom of Swaziland and the Republic of South Africa.

The Purpose of KOBWA was to implement Phase 1 of the Komati River Basin Development Project. Phase 1 comprises; the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Driekoppies Dam in South Africa (Phase 1a) and the Maguga Dam in Swaziland (Phase 1b). The construction of Maguga Dam marked the end of phase 1 of the Komati River Basin Development Project.

KOBWA is now focusing on the operation and maintenance of the dams and related infrastructure. There are four (4) Departments that sustain the operations at KOBWA and these are; 1. Water Management Department: Responsible for planning and management of all activities on the bulk infrastructure, systems operation, systems development, emergency preparedness and other related functions; 2. Corporate Support Department: Responsible for providing Human Resource and Information management support to the entire organization; 3. Environment and Development Department: Responsible for the implementation of KOBWA’s Environmental Monitoring program for the Komati Basin as well as the Resettlement program for persons affected by the construction of the Komati River Basin Project; 4. Finance Department: Responsible for the full control of; repayment of loans, budgeting and financing development projects and procurement functions.

Currently, KOBWA is at the Maintenance and Operations phase and this phase entails: • Managing the Water Harvested by the Dams in an effective and efficient manner; • Enhancing “Risk Management, Quality and Socio-Economic Development”; • Effectively liaising with all stakeholders to promote strong relationships, collaboration and cooperation; • Ensuring sound and effective human resources, financial and administrative management of KOBWA to meet internationally accepted/recognised corporate governance requirements; • Structuring and positioning KOBWA for a new mandate that would include planning and implementation of additional water resource development and management projects in the Party states.

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“CELEBRATING OVER TWENTY YEARS IN TRANS-BOUNDARY WATER MANAGEMENT”

A water tank for the Phindulwandle Nursery

Sugar cane fields at the Host-Area, Nyonyane

Harvested of sugar-cane at Edwaleni.

These fields are irrigated with Maguga Dam and Driekoppies Dam respectively

The aspirations of the two countries came into fruition in 1992 when the Komati River Basin Treaty was signed and the Komati Basin Water Authority was established. Over two decades later, KOBWA has consistently honoured water orders for farmers that are downstream anwd implemented sustainable development projects in the communities that are within KOBWA’s area of operation.

Therefore, in “Celebrating Twenty-One Years in Trans-boundary Water Management”, KOBWA has a reason to applaud the following achievements; • Completing the Maguga Dam and the Driekoppies Dam which also benefitted the community by providing employment opportunities and empowering them with artisan skills.

• Constructing the access road to the Driekoppies Dam; • Constructing the access road Mnyokane via Ekuvinjelweni to Plantations; • Providing better housing for those who were affected by the construction of the Dam; • Coordinating the Relocation Allocation Plan (RAP) and assisting beneficiaries of this exercise to be assisted in the following; • Managing a nursery which was established to preserve indigenous medicinal plants and currently a multi-million facility is nearing completion at Phindulwandle.

• Establishing and managing sugar-cane fields, vegetable gardens and orchards; • Establishment and Management Masibambisane Game Park and this project was officially handed over to the Beneficiaries in 2010; The operations and maintenance phase has seen KOBWA achieved the following; • Monitoring and managing the Dams’ infrastructure to ensure that should there be any seismic activity, appropriate action be taken on time;

PROFILE

• Honouring water-orders of farmers who are downstream which has ensured that the main beneficiaries of the Dams receive the required irrigation water every week; • Conducting risk-assessment activities first to ensure that the conjunctive management of the two Dams retains appropriate water levels at both Dams • Raising awareness to local communities of potential emergency situations such as flooding has resulted in the development of an emergency preparedness plan which involves key figures in neighbouring communities; • Technical information-sharing meetings with stakeholders who are within the Komati Basin are engaged through the Komati Joint Operations Forum (KJOF) on a monthly basis; • Installation of two portable water purification plants at Buffelspruit and at Block-C. These water plants augmented water supply to these areas, thus reducing the high frequency of water outages through the expertise of KOBWA personnel; • Implementation of the relocation comprehensive plan to ensure the sustainable development of those communities who were affected by the construction of the Driekoppies Dam. Matsamo Markets were constructed for local businesses and currently KOBWA has supported the construction of a clinic; • The Corporate Social Responsibility program has seen schools, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations benefitting water and sanitation-related amenities such as ablutions facilities and water-tanks which provide water for domestic use.

The past two decades have been a road marked with successes and challenges all of which have culminated to KOBWA as one of the best water management entities in the Region. Moving forward, it is now KOBWA’s strategic intention to map a sustainable future, taking cognisance of the dynamic and non-static external and internal environment.

1.

2.

1. Dr. Sipho Nkambule KOBWA’s Chief Executive Officer cuts the KOBWA cake whilst Ms. Duduzile Twayi the delegation leader of the Joint Water Commission (South Africa) looks on 2. KOBWA Shareholders and Staff members came together to commemorate the company’s twentyone years’ in existence.

INCORPORATING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INTO GAUTENG CITY-REGION PLANNING Kerry Bobbins and Christina Culwick

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Introduction to green infrastructure and urban planning The Gauteng City-Region (GCR) is located in the northeastern interior of South Africa and comprises an integrated cluster of urban centres that together form the economic heartland of the country. The cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni are at the core of the city-region, and the periphery extends beyond the borders of the Gauteng Province.

Governments in the GCR are under pressure to provide infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population and economy. Historically, infrastructure requirements have been met at the expense of environmental systems due to limited emphasis on sustainable development.

This situation is changing, with Government —guided by an array of national, provincial and local strategies—increasingly being required to take into account principles of sustainability. However, a fundamental paradigm shift is still required in planning and developing infrastructure, including how we understand the role of ecological assets in sustainable service delivery.

The concept of green infrastructure (GI) has emerged internationally as a way of understanding how green assets and ecological systems can work as part of the infrastructural fabric that supports and sustains society. GI refers to the interconnected set of natural and manmade ecological systems, green spaces, and other landscape features. It includes planted and indigenous trees, wetlands, parks, green open spaces and original grassland and woodlands, as well as possible building and street-level design interventions that incorporate vegetation, such as green roofs.

Together these assets form an infrastructure network providing services and strategic functions in the same way as traditional

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hard infrastructure. GI is multifunctional and provides numerous benefits in the form of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are the benefits supplied to humans by nature.

These are the naturally occurring ecological functions that range from air purification, water flow regulation, erosion reduction and disaster risk reduction associated with environmental change, the provision of green space for growing food, and the provision of habitats and ecosystems that support biodiversity. These benefits are being recognised by city and regional governments around the world, valued in quantifiable terms, and incorporated into service-delivery planning and capital investment decision-making. Cities such as New York have developed comprehensive GI plans that use GI to meet key challenges in the provision of stormwater services.

This type of planning is not yet happening in the GCR. While there has been some interest in the idea of greening through the provision of community gardens, maintenance of roadside verges and planning of public green space, municipal planning and finance systems are not yet geared towards valuing the ecosystem services provided by GI, and are not thinking about them as alternatives to conventional grey infrastructure. The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) is currently working with provincial and municipal government to explore how a GI approach can be applied within the GCR.

International examples of green infrastructure planning

Cities and urban areas around the world have started to develop and implement GI plans as part of strategic planning and visioning objectives; these include (but are not limited to) the United Kingdom, North America and Europe (Table 1). The idea of

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a GI plan is not a fixed concept, and it has been interpreted and applied differently in various contexts to meet diverse interests in the conservation of and planning for green assets. Generally, these plans consist of processes to map, value, design and develop networks of green assets in order to plan for the protection and investment in green infrastructure. Central to developing a GI plan is the involvement of relevant stakeholders. Two examples of where this concept has been applied include New York City and the City of London.

The New York City GI Plan (2009:1) identifies GI as “an adaptive approach to a complicated problem that will provide widespread, immediate benefits at a lower cost”. In the City’s search for a solution to increasing pressure on its stormwater and wastewater systems, it found that the traditional approach of using concrete or grey infrastructure—building more drains and water treatment plants—would take longer to implement and be more expensive

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than alternative green infrastructure, such as street-level bio-infiltration sites and rain gardens. The City’s analysis showed that the benefits of a GI solution would accrue immediately and appreciate over time, in contrast to all grey strategies where benefits would only be seen after long-term construction, and where the built infrastructure would need substantial recurrent expenditure on maintenance and depreciate over time. The implementation of a GI alternative instead of traditional grey infrastructure was calculated to allow for a saving of $1.5 billion (USD) over a 20-year period (New York City, 2009).

Similarly, the All London Green Grid sets out a plan for the city that integrates grey—and green—infrastructure through a landscape-wide view that focuses on managing natural and built environments together (Greater London Authority, 2011). It explicitly recognises the value of man-made GI and the role of well-designed spaces in urban infrastructure provision.

United Kingdom

North America

Europe

• Biodiversity and conservation • Climate change adaptation • Community forestry • Healthy lifestyles and landscapes • Sustainable communities • Sustainable urban design • Urban renaissance

• Biodiversity conservation and assessments • Climate change adaptation • Micro-climate control in urban areas • Smart growth • Sustainable drainage systems • Sustainable urban design • Water resource management

• Climate change mitigation and adaptation • High-density urban development • Mobility • Sustainable urban design

Table 1: Overview of the use of GI planning in the United Kingdom, North America and Europe (Source: Mell, 2012).

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Green infrastructure in the South African context Some cities in South Africa have started developing green agendas in an attempt to appreciate GI at a city scale, including the City of Cape Town and eThekwini municipality. While these plans attempt to create a shift in the way green assets are planned and managed in cities, they are based on key local parameters and have been developed to address significant challenges in both the broad and local contexts. Many of these green agendas are primarily rooted in preserving biodiversity and have a particular focus on service specific plans to assist with adapting and/or mitigating the risks associated with climate change. An example of a service specific plan is currently being undertaken in the uMngeni catchment, which is the main water supply area for eThekwini municipality, where water resources are being managed through ecological infrastructure initiatives (SANBI, 2013). Another example is the coastal management work currently being undertaken along the Hout Bay shoreline in Cape Town, where dune rehabilitation projects aim to offset the effects of weather extremes on the coastline, and reduce damage to properties and infrastructure (Cartwright & Oeloffse, 2014).

While these green agendas have made significant progress, the biodiversity argument upon which these initiatives are based cannot necessarily be made for the GCR. This is in part owed to the fact that the green networks in Gauteng, apart from the heritage sites and protected areas, are largely intersected by the built-up urban form, and many spaces of the GCR have been modified by humans. Biodiversity conservation alone does not necessarily create enough of an argument for these programmes to take effect. As understood by many of the international GI programmes, green agendas have been developed in

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response to natural disasters and can create more sustainable infrastructural solutions that, without the use of GI, would not be possible to implement due to sheer costs of traditional grey infrastructure interventions and/or approaches.

Green infrastructure in the GCR context

The GCR has a rich and diverse set of green assets, both natural and man-made.

Together these make up the intricate green network of the city-region that cuts unevenly across the landscape. It is through these existing networks that the city-region already benefits from the goods and services provided by green infrastructure. These networks are largely comprised of natural and planted grasslands, non-indigenous forests and cultivated land (Figure 1). Despite the extent of the current green networks, they are not managed in accordance with their true value and the benefits of green assets are only often realised after green assets have been lost.

Municipalities in the GCR have limited financial capacity to meet the needs of investing and managing green networks, particularly as the budget for green agendas are dropped when budgets are cut. The population of the GCR is projected to increase by more than 25% between 2011 and 2020, and there is pressure to ensure that infrastructure and service delivery develop adequately to accommodate the increased demand. Ensuring adequate service provision is particularly important in currently under-serviced areas in the cityregion. The current approach to delivering services has proved insufficient, and has resulted in widespread service delivery protests. It is essential that a different approach be investigated in light of limited capacity and resources to address the growing demands for infrastructure and service delivery.

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Transformed vs untransformed land in Gauteng

10/3/2014

School grounds Sports & recreational Golf courses Thicket, bushland and bush clumps Forest (indigenous) Trees (non-natural) Planted & natural grassland

Land cover categories

Wetlands

Transformed (42%)

Degraded natural

Untransformed (43%)

Cultivated, commercial agriculture (irrigated) Cultivated, commercial] agriculture (dryland/rainfed)

Urban (15%)

Municipalities 0

15

30

Open

Tshwane

Mogale

Geo-Terra Image

Water

Gauteng

Johannesburg

Merafong

Randfontein

Westonaria

Lesedi

SOURCE: Midvaal

Ekurhuleni

Percentage

Johannesburg

Green and grey infrastructure | State of Gauteng City Region

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Emfuleni

Pretoria

Bare rock & soil

Km 60

Left sidebar Green infrastructure can be understood as an interconnected set of natural and man-made ecological systems, green spaces and other landscape features that together form an infrastructure network providing services and strategic functions in the same way as traditional ‘hard’ infrastructure.

In same way as we view roads, bulk water and sanitation networks and electricity distribution lines comprising a network of infrastructure utilities; natural or vegetated features are part of

the infrastructure networks that provide services to society.

Figure 1: Overview of Gauteng’s natural land cover map (Data source: Geo-terra image (2012))

Municipalities in the GCR face different challenges because of their geographic location and diverse socio-economic drivers. As municipal mandates expand over time to meet the demands of an increasing population, GI offers an integrated solution that can be tailormade to solve the unique challenges facing municipalities. Solutions can be crafted to create a more sustainable region over time and it is a means through which spatial planning and social development portfolios can be integrated.

Opportunities for developing a green infrastructure plan for the city-region

Developing a GI plan involves the creation of a conceptual and practical framework that can provide the guiding principles and the basis for the management of green networks (Mell, 2008). The plan can also form a basis for the development of financial structures

and incentives to invest in green networks.

Infrastructure plans at large are led by public participation and stakeholder engagement around the objectives and the mapping of green assets over time. The advantages of cities adopting an integrated green and grey approach include the ability of GI to provide multiple benefits over time with the opportunity for gaining appreciating investments over the long term. The direct benefits of ecological infrastructure enhance built infrastructure through lengthening the life of existing built infrastructure and can reduce the need for additional infrastructure (SANBI, 2012). In South Africa, many urban settlements have limited access to basic services and infrastructure. In the GCR, stark infrastructural inequalities remain after apartheid. There is increasing pressure on local government to meet the needs of the current, fast-growing population. Lack of infrastructure increases the vulnerability of residents to climate change impacts. http://www.gcro.ac.za/gcr/review/2013/gcro/spacemobility/infrastructure

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The GCRO has embarked on a multi-year research project on Green Assets and Infrastructure that examines the current state of GI in the GCR and facilitates the development of a region-wide GI Plan.

The overall objective of the project is to influence the approach to green asset management by municipalities, and to better understand the extent to which GI can work as part of the infrastructural fabric that supports and sustains society.

This includes assessing how GI is valued by various stakeholders in the city-region and demonstrating ways of incorporating GI into government budgeting and planning processes. The GCRO has identified that GI can be used to address the historical inequalities in the access and provision of infrastructure in South Africa’s urban areas, while building new approaches to climate compatible services. More specifically, the development of a GI plan can assist with a range of benefits including, inter alia: • providing services otherwise not possible using a traditional infrastructure approach, • reducing the vulnerability of infrastructure through the use of natural systems, • allowing for the provision of infrastructure at a reduced cost, • creating jobs at a lowered cost for government due to the absorption of unskilled labour for the maintenance and extension of green networks, and • creating aesthetically pleasing and productive green spaces and key nodes of densification.

Building a case for GI through building an evidence base

Building an evidence base for the uptake of a GI approach is critical. This requires robust and meaningful information on

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existing green assets, understanding the value of ecosystem services provided by GI, the co-ordinated uptake of the GI planning approach by local government, including the accounting of green assets in municipal budgets. Towards creating this evidence base, a significant amount of digital spatial information is readily available for Gauteng.

The data however is located in various government departments, where it is created, collated, used and stored according to different operational mandates. At present there is no one repository that houses GIS data in Gauteng and digital spatial data for green assets is currently spread between national, provincial and local (district and municipal) government departments, and in the offices of independent consultants.

While these datasets often form a large component of the accurate datasets used by municipalities and other GIS users in Gauteng—most commonly in the form of environment management frameworks, environmental management plans, land cover and open space frameworks—there is no standardised method guiding green asset data collation. This creates challenges for the identification and integrated planning of green assets on the ground.

The status of municipal park datasets in Gauteng illustrates some of these challenges.

For example, park data is not compatible at the Gauteng extent as the investment in and maintenance of public parks is largely the responsibility of municipalities.

The definition and representation of parks between municipalities varies and parks appear to have been recorded in parks, open space, or parks and open space datasets that can be represented by point and/or polygon feature classes, which do not align around administrative boundaries (Figure 2). The lack of supporting metadata often renders these datasets invalid and unusable. The general discourse on ecosystem services

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Ekurhuleni

Johannesburg

Midvaal Document Path: G:\GISProjects\2014GreenAssets\Arcmap\de_Wit_CoJ_finance_map\Estimated_Values_GS_ha_per_annum.mxd Description: The estimated value of open spaces copied from SOGI pp 138.

Text Century Gothic grey 60% Bold Municipal boundaries 70% grey Labels 80% grey

Figure 2: Overview of differences in parks classifications across Gauteng (Map data source: 2 Gauteng Municipality datasets)

Estimated value in Rands/Ha/Year

A

E C

D

B

F

G

Region Region A Region B Region C Region D Region E Region F Region G

Estimated value in Rands/Hectare/year Low estimate Medium estimate High estimate R 3 492 964 R 5 239 445 R 6 985 927 R 4 530 706 R 6 796 059 R 9 061 412 R 6 207 222 R 9 310 833 R 12 414 444 R 6 562 326 R 9 843 488 R 13 124 651 R 3 430 756 R 5 146 134 R 6 861 513 R 7 043 591 R 10 565 386 R 14 087 181 R 7 374 704 R 11 062 057 R 14 749 409

SOURCE: City of Johannesburg and De Wit

0

5

10

Km 20

Figure 3: Overview of the estimated value in rands per hectare per year as calculated for green assets that exist in the city of Johannesburg. Estimates are recorded per region in the city of Johannesburg according to low, medium and high estimates (Map data source: Schaffler et al, 2013))

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places weight on economic valuation and the opportunities associated with applying a uniform monetary metrics (Primmer & Furman, 2012). Based on this premise, a valuation study was conducted on the City of Johannesburg’s parks and open space digital spatial dataset (Figure 3). This was done through estimating the total economic value of GI, using the benefits transfer technique, which relied on valuation findings from an analysis conducted for the City of Cape Town (more information on the study and be found in the report by Turpie et al. (2001)). Despite being a contested method for valuing ecosystems services, the use of value arguments has remained detached from governance and the operational management of public goods (Primmer & Furman, 2012). This is evident in the financial valuations of ecosystem services in the City of Cape Town (de Wit et al., 2008) and in the City of Johannesburg.

As such, the transferring and generalising of economic values, and applying them in decision-making processes, still needs to be investigated further (Primmer & Furman, 2012).

Directions for future and continued research

The GCRO’s work on GI builds on the base laid by GCRO’s State of Green Infrastructure Report (Schaffler, 2013), and attempts to build an accurate understanding of the current and changing state of GI networks in the GCR, through collating available digital spatial data on green spaces, to generate a series of map outputs that represent GI in the city-region. The GCRO research has thus far revealed a number of areas that need to be explored further in the development of a GI plan. Some of the key areas of future research include: • mainstreaming the idea of GI into municipal and provincial planning (through the range of departments),

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• exploring how to incorporate the multidisciplinary nature of GI into ‘siloed’ government structures, • developing a strategic conversation among municipalities about a possible way forward for conducting ecosystem service assessments through digital spatial data, • investigating how to incorporate GI into municipal financing and asset registries, which is necessary if they are to be considered as assets to be valued and maintained, and • While our prior work demonstrates possible ways to value GI from an ecosystem services perspective, a fundamental lesson has been the importance of linking accurate spatial data to primary data on the services flowing from ecological processes.

Conclusions

Green assets have assumed an infrastructural role through the ecosystem services they provide to society. GI serves as a multifunctional alternative to traditional grey infrastructure that appreciates in value over time, and offers sustainable planning options for cities. Evidence suggests that a GI has been used widely in cities across the world where it has been used to meet service delivery demands, while creating a more resilient urban form that can mitigate the effects of natural shocks and climate change. Due to the GCR’s rich and diverse set of natural assets, the scope and potential for using GI as an infrastructure planning alternative is significant. This can be achieved through maintaining and extending green networks of the GCR using natural and combined grey-green engineered solutions that are integrated and well planned. These alternatives can be used to meet the growing demand for services and development and allow for the provision of infrastructure at the lowest cost

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to people and the environment. As such, GI provides a unique and multi-functional solution for short-term problems with long-term benefits. Monetary valuation of GI has not proved sufficient in transforming municipal planning and budgeting systems to allow for the uptake of a GI planning approach. Cities around the world are also grappling with these challenges, yet manage to prioritise green asset and a GI approach into city planning and strategy documents. In order for green assets to be appreciated as part of city planning and assume an infrastructural role, there is a need for further applied research in the

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form of case studies that can demonstrate the required evidence base for uptake of a GI approach in the GCR. Without such research or an evidence base, the city-region will not be able to benefit fully from existing and future green networks. It is identified that for green assets to stand a fair chance of being included in traditional infrastructure planning programmes, further work is required around how GI can be valued in a comparable way to other municipal assets, and understanding how spatial data can provide the necessary basis for effective and integrated GI planning.

References •

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• • •

• •

• •

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Cartwright, A. & Oeloffse, G., 2014. Scoping a process for conducting ecosystem services valuation as part of a green infrastructure plan for the Gauteng City-Region, Cape Town: Expert commissioned work completed for the Gauteng City-Region Observatory.

De Wit, M., Van Zyl, H., Crookes, D., Blignaut, J., Jayiya, T., Goiset, V. & Mahumani, B. (2009) Investing in Natural Assets. A Business Case for the Environment in the City of Cape Town. Report for the City of Cape Town’s ERM Department.

Greater London Authority, 2011. The All London Green Grid, London: Greater London Authority Printer.

Mell, I. C., 2008. Green infrastructure: concepts and planning. Forum Journal, pp. 69–80.

Mell, I. C., 2012. Green infrastructure planning a contemporary approach for innovative interventions in urban landscape management. Journal or Biourbanism, Volume 1, pp. 1–10.

New York City, 2009. NYC Green Infrastructure Plan: A sustainable strategy for clean waterways.

Primmer, E. & Furman, E., 2012. Operationalising ecosystem service approaches for governance: Do measuring, mapping and valuing integrate sector-specific knowledge systems? Ecosystem Services, Volume 1, pp. 85–92.

SANBI, 2012. Ecological Infrastructure: Nature delivering services.

SANBI, 2013. Investment in ecological infrastructure for Durban’s water. [Online] Available at: http://www.grasslands.org.za/news/entry/-investment-in-ecologicalinfrastructure-for-durbans-water [Accessed 4 August 2014].

Schaffler, A., Christopher, N., Bobbins, K., Otto, E., Nhlozi, M., de Wit, M., van Zyl, H., Crookes, D., Gotz, G., Trangos, G., Wray, C., Phasha, P. et al., 2013. State of Green Infrastructure in the Gauteng City-Region, Johannesburg: Gauteng City Region Observatory.

Turpie, J. et al., 2001. Valuation of open space in the Cape Metropolitian Area: A report to the City of Cape Town: City of Cape Town.

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Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality takes first steps towards a connected future

T

he Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) is fast-tracked to become not only Africa’s first airport city, but also its most connected one. Two megaprojects; the Ekurhuleni Aerotropolis project and the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN) are set to transform the municipality in terms of growth and economic opportunity.

Ekurhuleni, a combination of nine towns, is home to the continent’s largest airport, OR Tambo International (ORTIA), as well as a sophisticated rail hub connecting South Africa to the ports of Durban and Maputo and an interconnected freeway system. The municipality now plans to develop a sophisticated network of

Ekurhuleni Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network

support infrastructure and transport services to further encourage trade, local job creation and a better quality of life for its citizens.

“Developing Ekurhuleni into a sustainable and competitive municipality requires careful and sustained planning and the reorientation of existing infrastructure – for which construction has already begun,” says Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Mondli Gungubele. “Overall connectivity is good. But we want to introduce our own IRPTN, extend the municipal bus services and build additional support service infrastructure such as safe pedestrian and cycle ways,that will allow us to fully service a greater number of citizens.”

An integrated public transport system for the future Executive Mayor Gungubele explains the rationale behind the project.

“Our vision is for a high quality public transport system that integrates seamlessly into residents lives and encourages people to be more active by making walking and cycling a part of their daily commute.

Ultimately we need to provide a new and attractive integrated public transport network of services that will serve the 3.1 million residents of Ekurhuleni,” he says.

The Ekurhuleni IRPTN, will be similar to Rea Vaya in Johannesburg and the MyCiti system in Cape Town, and is based on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems and technology that has successfully been implemented in developed and developing nations throughout the world.

Executive Mayor Gungubele explains that this will cement the growing importance of Ekurhuleni within the Gauteng City Region.

Breaking ground The new system, which will launch in mid 2016, will eventually span the length and breadth of the municipality.

“The proposed network is our blueprint for next 20 years or more and will be made up of five phases with the first route from Tembisa to Vosloorus, including routing via Kempton Park, OR Tambo International Airport and Boksburg, already under construction,” says Transport Planning and Provision Head of Department, Yolisa Mashilwane.

She explains that the new system services will also provide much improved east west connectivity between ORTIA, Kempton Park and Johannesburg’s northern areas.

These public transport systems A transport system that builds aim to provide a seamless, highcommunities quality travel experience that bypasses traffic congestion by Ekurhuleni City Manager, Khaya using dedicated bus lanes that Ngema says he believes that offer guaranteed travel time for by connecting individuals and commuters. The project will see the entrepreneurs who have not introduction of energy efficient buses and previously been able to benefit from quality bus services integrated with the the municipality’s vibrant economic existing rail, bus and taxi services. complex will now be able to participate in realising Ekurhuleni’s potential as a truly The EMM’s IRPTN is comprised of trunk cosmopolitan, multi-cultural and modern routes along the major mobility spines in line city. with its Metropolitan Spatial Development Framework, with both complementary and “Throughout the lifespan of the project feeder routes, ensuring that a significant we aim to drive economic development by geographic area is covered. These routes empowering local businesses. During the will connect existing, as well as proposed, construction phase we will be working with major residential and economic nodes. emerging contractors. By using these small providers we will contribute to economic In the long run the system will integrate growth and job creation in the area. Then with the next phases of the City of in the operational phase we want to enable Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya system offering existing bus and taxi operators to form part excellent public transport connectivity of the development and operation of the between both metros. vehicle operating companies,” he explains.

Tactile paving blocks to assist visually impaired pedestrians.

Building on a solid public transport foundation As part of its far reaching plans for interconnectivity Ekurhuleni will be extending its municipal bus services.

The plan is to increase access to public transport in areas in dire need of these services, but that fall outside of the envisaged Phase 1 IRPTN network.

This extended routing will include the introduction of new bus routes, with 6 new routes already introduced. The Metro has budgeted R80 million over the next two years to buy a new fleet of eco-buses that will service these parts of Ekurhuleni. The Metro has also recruited 25 new bus drivers to support the introduction of these new bus routes.

Development of intermodal transport facilities To ensure integrated connectivity is achieved, the Metro has and will continue to develop and construct key intermodal facilities in its area of jurisdiction, reducing the burden of poor public transport on the commuter. The Ramaphosa Public Transport Facility has recently been completed. Several facilities are under construction to address this, including: the New Vosloorus Public Transport facility (next to the new hospital) and Palmridge which started construction in April 2014. Further facilities will be developed in the years to follow.

The Municipality has also partnered with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) on a number of facilities such as Germiston, Kempton Park, Leralla, Isando, Rhodesfield, and Springs Stations. The development of these facilities ensures improved access to rail services as a source of mass transport.

In the future the Metro will also be developing the Germiston Intermodal facility. The upgraded facility will be a vibrant and multifunctional centre servicing business, community and transport needs.

Alternative transport options Ekurhuleni subscribes to a sustainable approach to transport and as such is rolling out non-motorised transport (NMT) infrastructure which includes pedestrian walkways and bicycle lanes.

“Construction of pedestrian walkways has already commenced in certain areas in the Metro and we aim to develop over 50kms of non-motorised transport lanes in the next 2 years,” explains Mashilwane The first phase will see non-motorised transport facilities being installed on Rev. RTJ Namane between George Nyanga and DM Marokane as well as in Brian Mazibuko Drive East and West and Pretoria Road in Kempton park.The construction started in March 2014 and will see pedestrian walkways, bicycle lanes and new traffic signals installed at certain intersections. This initial construction phase will connect with and support the integrated system in the future.

When conceptualising the IRPTN the Ekurhuleni Municipality wanted to ensure that they develop a transport system for all. As a result the system is carefully designed using universal access features, such as pedestrian crossing bridges that have been fitted with remote controlled lifts, to provide easy access to people with disabilities and special needs.

A system to be proud of Mayor Gungubele says he is pleased with the prospects the IRPTN and related system and service upgrades will bring to the municipality.

“We are not just building bus lanes, or transport facilities, we are building a legacy that will benefit residents for generations to come,” he says. “These projects will bring employment and prosperity to Ekurhuleni and South Africa as a whole.”

Tactile paving blocks to assist visually impaired pedestrians.

www.letsmovetogether.co.za

Description of Route Section

Description of works

Complementary route between Tembisa Hospital and just north of Tembisa Civic Centre (4.2 km). The Area 1 route is along Rev RTJ Namane Drive to the intersection with Andrew Mapheto Drive, then along Andrew Mapheto Drive to the intersection with DM Marokane Drive. It is divided into Area 1A (2.1 km- Tembisa Hospital to Brian Mazibuko Drive Easy) and 1B (2.1 km – balance of Area 1 route).

Construction involves widening the two lane road to four lanes plus IRPTN kerbside bus stops and intersection upgrades to accommodate bicycles and universal access facilities. Buses will move in mixed traffic stopping at the kerbside bus stops along the route.

Complementary route continues from the intersection with DM Marokane Drive on Andrew Mapheto Drive up to the Tembisa Civic Centre.

The Trunk route commences at the Tembisa Civic Centre and follows Andrew Mapheto Drive up to the intersection of Rev RTJ Namane Drive.

The road up to the Tembisa Civic Centre is already a dual carriageway, and hence construction will involve rehabilitation/ strengthening of the kerbside lanes to accommodate IRPTN vehicles, kerbside bus stops and intersection upgrades to accommodate bicycles and universal access facilities.

From the Civic Centre southwards, the trunk route will entail the widening of the roadway to incorporate dedicated lanes for IRPTN buses in the median.

Trunk route from the intersection with Rev RTJ Namane Drive on Andrew Mapheto Drive until the intersection of Modderfontein Road. It is divided into Area 3A (Rev RTJ Namane Drive to Isimuku Street) and 3B (Isimuku Street to Modderfontein Road).

Widening of the roadway to incorporate dedicated lanes for IRPTN buses in the median. Five trunk stations are currently planned along this section.

From the intersection with Modderfontein Road on Andrew Mapheto Drive into Zuurfontein Road to its intersection with the R25 (where Zuurfontein Road and CR Swart Avenue diverge).

Provision of dedicated lanes for IRPTN buses in the existing median. Two trunk stations are currently planned along this section.

A service between Kempton Park and Vosloorus via OR Tambo, and Boksburg will be opening in 2016, at the same time as the rest of the Phase 1A network. This will be operated as a regular bus route.

Appropriate levels of infrastructure will be implemented to complement this stage of operation.

Upgrade of existing road (complementary route). No lanes were added, but the substructure of the road was improved and strengthened; including upgrading of the intersection, universal access and non-motorized transport facilities.

Map of the Ekurhuleni IRPTN Phase 1

TEMBISA TE BIS SA

O.R.TAMBO O.R.T B

NMT ROUTES

M57 7 Farrarmere M4 44

Bed edfford dview w

Eassst Ran nd Mall M43 R21

Prim mrose se

1 12

Benoni on oni

Beyerss Parkk Ravvensw wood Anderrbolt b

Germistton

M2

Eaast Rand an Ptty Mines

R21 R2 21 1

Reiger g Parkk

M46

Bokksbu burrg South

M43

TEMBISA COMPLEMENTARY BOKSBURG COMPLEMENTARY VOSLOORUS COMPLEMENTARY

M35 3

SOUTH FEEDER TRUNK ROUTE

BO OKSBURG

H

TEMBISA FEEDER

Parrkrand 17

M37

M48

ISANDO COMPLEMENTARY

Elspark

Albe erton

Sunward Parrk

Wadevil ad lle

R5 554

M37

Klip ppoo po rtjie AH

M43 Witpoortjie 117-lr

Windmill Park R103 3

M35 Dawn w Park Rondebult on

Spruitview

M43 M43

Villa Liza

Roode dekkraal 133-lr Waterlands

KATLEHONG

VOSLOORUS OSLOORUS

www.letsmovetogether.co.za

NM TE SO TR CO RO

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS COMPANY

PAGE

AM Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd

2-3

BASF

152 62

Bio sewage systems

4

Bluescope Steel

176-IBC

BuildersTrade Depot

96

Central University of Technology (CUT)

105-109

Claybrick Association Corobrik Pty Ltd

19

Dube Trade Port

172-175

Ekurhuleni Municipality

160-164 166-168; 170-171

Eskom Holdings SOC Limited

36-37

Ethekwini Transport Authority Funani Environmental Management Solutions

150

Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development

66-75

Gauteng Partnership Fund

33-35

THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

165

Advertorial

Infrastructure – a plan in action The biggest dry-cooled power station in the world and the first power station in South Africa to have flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) installed are both progressing steadily towards completion and will provide a significant boost to South Africa’s economy.

Building of the Medupi and Kusile power stations is more than filling in the blanks in South Africa’s power generation capacity but meticulous thought has gone into mitigating environmental concerns while also catapulting the country into a leading producer of clean energy, albeit at considerable cost.

The Kusile station will consist of six units each rated at approximately 800 MW installed capacity giving a total of 4 800 MW. The first unit is planned for commercial operation towards the end of 2015. Thereafter, the other units will be commissioned at eight-month intervals, with the last unit expected to be in commercial operation by 2019.

Due to environmental concerns about the effect of thermal power on air quality, Eskom had to opt for the FGD at its Kusile plant because it is the only commercially available technology it can use to meet the requirements of the Air Quality Act which the utility has to comply with by 2020.

FGD is a state-of-the-art technology, used to remove oxides of sulphur, such as sulphur dioxide, from exhaust flue gases in power plants that burn coal.To help conserve water, the plant will use an air cooling system.

Largely the water used by the FGD is waste water recovered

from other processes.The design tries to make optimum use of the water within the processes on the power station. This may need to be supplemented with raw water.

Adopting the technology would require additional 70m litres of water and 5Mt of limestone a year.

While the installation costs have been understandably significant, between R100bn and R120bn and additional operating costs would range between R4bn and R5bn/year, the trade off in lower carbon emmissions would be worth the cost.

Kusile Power Station is also Eskom’s most advanced coal project and will include supercritical (high efficient) technology, world class environmental controls and air-cooled condensers.

Kusile is at least 4 times larger than the Gautrain project in terms of capital expenditure and on completion, will be the 4th largest coal plant in the world. The 4800 MW it will produce constitutes about 11 percent of Eskom’s installed base.

The Kusile project will include a power station precinct, power station buildings, administrative buildings (control buildings and buildings for medical and security purposes), roads and a high-voltage yard. The associated infrastructure will include a coal stockyard, coal and ash conveyors, temporary and permanent water-supply pipelines, temporary electricity supply during construction, water and waste water-treatment facilities, ash disposal systems, a railway line, limestone offloading facilities, access roads (including haul roads) and dams for water storage, as well as a railway siding and/or a line for the sorbent (limestone) supply.

Medupi on the other hand, the fourth largest coal-fired plant in the southern hemisphere, will be the biggest dry-cooled power station in the world.

“The biggest dry-cooled power station in the world and the first power station in South Africa to have flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) installed are both progressing steadily towards completion and will provide a significant boost to South Africa’s economy”.

The boiler and turbine contracts for Medupi are the largest contracts that Eskom has ever signed in its 90-year history. The planned operational life of the station is 50 years.

Recent reports on the underperformance of the South African economy, the protracted strike in the platinum sector, lower than expected GDP performance and the recent downgrades by rating agencies, has made it critical for Eskom to provide sufficient energy to help the manufacturing, mining and other core sectors to fully utilise their production potential.

Having just one of Medupi’s 794MW units online is considered critical for ensuring adequate electricity supply, as the gap between current supply and demand has shrunk dangerously close this year already. But at least three units will be needed before a healthy reserve margin is restored.

And providing that demand grew at between the projected and expected 2 to 3 per cent, then Eskom would have more than a 20 per cent reserve margin by the time it completed the second power station, Kusile, both having a life span of about 40 – 50 years as was the case with most power stations.

Powering your world www.eskom.co.za

Eskom Holdings SOC Limited Reg No 2002/015527/06

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS COMPANY

PAGE

Komati Basin Water Authority (KOBWA)

144-147

Msunduzi Municipality

120-121

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Old Mutual Investment PPC Limited

140 IFC-1; 86-87 OBC

Power Group of Companies

12-13

Randwater

20-23

Rosema Bricks

134

SECI Incubator

52-55

Sizabantu Piping Systems

130

SMEC South Africa

16

Techicrete Ocon

92

THE SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE HANDBOOK

169

Advertorial

Eskom committed to renewable energy Ayanda Nakedi, Eskom Renewables Business Unit

Senior

General

Manager:

Over the past few years South Africa has experienced a wave of investments in renewable energy as the country taps into the potential of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro. The face of the South African energy landscape is changing and the quick deployment of low carbon technologies around the country attests to this silent revolution.

As a country, South Africa is committed to the introduction of alternative energy sources. The speed at which the country has recently facilitated renewable energy investment is evidence of this commitment.

Diversifying the energy mix through the introduction of alternative energy sources is part of Eskom’s agenda.

This flows from government’s long-standing desire to diversify the country’s energy mix to lower carbon

emitting sources. Securing supply through diversity is one of the key objectives identified by the 1998 White Paper on a National Energy Policy.This laid a foundation for a low-carbon trajectory.

The case for introduction of cleaner energy sources is compelling. Eskom’s Climate Change Strategy envisages the diversification of the electricity generation by increasing supply from renewables, gas, nuclear and clean coal. The strategy also spells out Eskom’s intentions to reduce its carbon emissions. The utility supplies approximately 95% of South Africa’s electricity and over 90% of this is from coal.

Eskom is, therefore, keeping abreast with the shift to sustainable and clean power generation. This is despite the company being synonymous with coal power. For Eskom, investment in renewable energy is one of the options to pursue as the country moves to a more

BLUEPRINT 422

sustainable energy future. This is not empty talk. The utility is at work, steaming ahead with the implementation of its utility-scale wind and concentrating solar power projects in the Western Cape and Northern Cape, respectively.

Ayanda Nakedi, Eskom Senior General Manager: Renewables Business Unit says the 100MW Sere Wind Farm in Vredendal, Western Cape project is on course to produce power by the end of this year. The Sere project includes construction of a new substation and a 132 kV distribution line.

Nakedi says Eskom raised funding for Sere and the 100MW Concentrating Solar Power plant near Upington, Northern Cape from Developing Financing Institutions (DFI’s). These included institutions such as Agence Française de Développement (AFD), African

Development Bank, Clean Technology Fund (CTF), European Investment Bank (EIB), KfW (a public law institution existing under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany) and the World Bank.

She says DFI’s have made funding available for renewable energy projects. “The market is receptive to Eskom raising money for renewable energy,” she says. Eskom and EIB recently signed a new €75 million (R1.1 billion) finance contract to support the CSP plant.

By pursuing renewable energy, Eskom is following a global trend. “Utilities around the world have embraced renewable energy,” says Nakedi. The transformation of the local energy landscape through, among others, the introduction of renewable energy has forced Eskom to re-think its business model. It goes without saying that today’s decisions have a bearing on Eskom’s financial sustainability in future.

Powering your world www.eskom.co.za Eskom Holdings SOC Limited Reg No 2002/015527/06

Dube TradePort is officially an Industrial Development Zone The launch of the Dube TradePort Industrial Development Zone (DTP IDZ) represents a significant milestone in reaffirming Dube TradePort’s role as an engine for sustained economic growth for South Africa, in line with the country’s Regional Industrial Development Strategy contained in the Industrial Policy Action Plan.

“Dube TradePort is a key priority Infrastructural Development Project for the Province of KwaZulu-Natal.

This status carries with it responsibility for the development of an Integrated Aerotropolis Strategy, the development of a Provincially-driven airlift strategy and the implementation of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Growth and Development Strategy. Dube TradePort enjoys further support by forming part of South Africa’s National Infrastructaure Plan, as outlined in the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission (PICC) under Strategic Infrastructure Programme 2.

Government’s backing and our bold vision of a 60-year master plan, gives investors the security of sustained growth and development,” remarked Mr Michael Mabuyakhulu, MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs for KwaZulu-Natal.

Over the past five years, Dube TradePort has grown to a size of 2840 hectares and in that time it has successfully managed to attract over R 900 million in private investment. In the process its impact on job creation has been estimated to create 16 527 new job opportunities across the country and this will increase with new development opportunities.

Dube TradePort is Africa’s first purpose-built Aerotropolis and has central to it an International Airport.

This freight-orientated Aerotropolis coupled with IDZ designation will certainly quicken the pace of development at Dube TradePort and, I would confidently add, increase demand for greater levels of airlift out of Durban to domestic, regional and international markets. This would, in turn, augment efforts to grow our strategically influential location - together with two of Africa’s major seaports - to become a truly viable and sustainable alternative gateway to South Africa, Africa and the world,” commented Dr Zanele Bridgette Gasa, Chairperson of the Board of Dube TradePort Corporation.

The Dube TradePort IDZ is located within a strong economic region, close to major complementary transport and freight links and boasts world-class infrastructure. As a secure, purpose-planned airport city and master-planned business environment, infrastructure has been designed in line with freightorientation and cargo and is supported by the state-of-the-art, King Shaka International Airport.

For more information please contact :Vincent Zwane: +27 32 814 0000 | info@dubetradeport.co.za www.dubetradeport.co.za

Cementing the future through sustainability.

At PPC, we are committed to understanding and managing the potential environmental impact of our activities. That’s why we ensure that sustainability forms an integral part of all our business decisions, right through to the products and services we deliver.

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