Water Main – Inanda Dam, KZN
In the third and final drill for LNY Construction at Inanda Dam, the team had to drill under a small river to pull a 450-diameter pipe and install a 315-dn HDPE product pipe for a water line main sleeve.
The conditions proved to be very tough with lots of rocky outcrops that could not be drilled through, under or around. The only option was to remove several of the rocks using excavators, making the project longer and more difficult than anticipated, but eventually, the team got it done successfully to the client’s full satisfaction.
Water Main – KameelRivier, Mpumalanga
This drill for Shingirayi Civils in KameelRivier, Mpumalanga was a tough one for the Rolkon team.
Rolkon was tasked with drilling and pulling through a 630-diameter HDPE pipeline that forms part of the installation of the Kuilin Pipeline water-main. With extremely rocky conditions the project was a challenge right from the pilot drill and required a steady hand and focused teamwork.
At the end of the day, and despite a slow reaming process, the project was successfully delivered to a very happy client. The pipe welding was undertaken by Velocity Construction and the pipe was supplied by Rho-Tech.
Water Main – Wartburg 3.0
In the final installation of this three phase project for Icon Construction in Efaye Wartburg, Rolkon installed 2 x 450 diameter sleeves with a 200-diameter water main.
Throughout this 5-day project, the drilling was on point and accurate, and proved a fitting end to a three-phase project delivered on time and on budget.
Bulk Water Supply – Nkanyezini
Rolkon was appointed by Afriscan Construction to install a 450 and 630-diameter water main sleeve across a provincial road running through the peri-urban area of Nkanyezini.
The bulk water supply scheme location along the undulating Msunduzi river, brought some difficulties to the project, but, as is the Rolkon way, its was delivered under budget and within the planned period of 5 days.
The drill was closely monitored by both the client and project engineer Escongweni BPH Engineers who were delighted by the accurate drilling and delivery of the service.
As a well-respected construction company, Afriscan has strict safety and environmental protocols which Rolkon was able to meet, being a company with Gate 2 Occupational Health and Safety registration.
Stormwater – Durban Suburb
In one of Rolkon’s biggest projects, the team faced severe space constraints and a 17m grade drop over the length of the drill when installing a stormwater network linking properties in an upmarket suburb in Durban.
Working for BLOC, who was contracted by the eThekwini Storm Water department, the horizontal directional drill for this project served to implement a stormwater network that links all the properties along the main storm water bulk line in Innes Road.
The pilot drill was approximately 104m starting from the properties at the top of the hill and following the grade down a 17m fall over the length of the drill. With no line of sight, our driller had to rely on the instrumentation and expertise of his locator as the team navigated under outbuildings, pool houses, tennis courts and foundations of retaining walls.
The reaming process was very slow as approximately 130 cubes of mud had to be removed from the base pit using a TLB, tipper and specialised fluid truck with a suction pump. Both the entry and exit points were carefully constructed by BLOC using a sheet file methodology to ensure maximum safety for the Rolkon team. RhoTech supplied 90m of pipe which they welded on-site using the butt-welding methodology. A 2-step reducer was specially made for this process to ensure the best quality welding for the job. In addition, a 315mm pipe puller, specially engineered by Nicky from New Vision Engineering, was purchased for this job.
The successful delivery of this multi-faceted project was made possible by the knowledge, experience and expertise shared by BLOC and our Rolkon team.
Water Main – Wartburg 2.0
In the second phase of a project for Icon Construction the Rolkon team installed 1 x 450mm, 2 x 400mm and 1 x 200mm diameter water main sleeves in Efaye, Wartburg.
Rocky conditions and the crossing of a busy highway made no difference to the efficiency of the delivery and in our client’s words “there was no fuss, no excuses, the project just happened.”
Water Main – Wartburg 1.0
In our first of a three-phase project for Icon Construction Rolkon installed 4 x 450mm and 1 x 315mm watermain sleeves in Efaye near Wartburg.
The ducts were 60 meters in total length with a product pipe of 72 meters by 250mm including stub and flanges.
Water Main – Mandini
The Rolkon team faced a relatively tough drilling environment with varying geotechnical conditions coming into play as they drilled from soil to rock.
Undertaking the drill for Mdima Civils the project entailed the installation of 630mm water main sleeves for a new water main pipeline in Mandini. The 2 pipes of 18m each were installed over 5 days with some time taken drilling through the rockier parts of the dig.
Water Main – Mt Frere
It definitely felt like winter on a recent job in Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape where the team installed a 40m water main for client Kara SA who is working on a project to make water more accessible for the local community.
The 450mm pipe was installed under the main highway running through the town, but using trenchless technology there was no disruption to the traffic. A relatively straightforward job, the biggest challenge was the sub-zero overnight temperatures and the hard, compact soil conditions.
Water Main – Empuluzi
It was a tough project for the Rolkon team in Empuluzi near the Swaziland border. Working for BLOC Contractors this project involved the installation of several water main sleeves in a number of different locations.
The pipes were all different lengths and they had to be installed at different depths based on the surrounding landscape.
Site conditions ranged from hard and dry to soft and muddy and as the rain and snow of the weekend drew in, the job had to be put the job on hold. But the team returned to site to finish the installation adding another successful project to their list of experiences.
Water Main – Push Drill
Like many of Rolkon’s projects in urban and peri-urban areas, space was limited with houses all around the trench site and a constant flow of pedestrians, making planning and caution a key focus.
In addition, the 200mm pipe for this water main could not be pulled as is traditionally done so it was pushed the length of the 18m drill with very little difficulty and the water main was delivered as per our client’s expectations on time and within budget!
Water Main – Dube Trade Port
Rolkon was called back for a second job at Dube Trade Port for Stefanutti Stocks, this time in Trade Zone 1 for the installation of a 250mm PN 16 high-pressure water main.
The 78m dig took place under a traffic circle that had an array of services running underneath it. This meant great care in the planning of the drill route and a slow and steady drill to ensure no services were damaged.
On this project, the choice of trenchless construction resulted in significant time and budget savings as the client didn’t have to dig up the roadway. It also meant that access to Dube Trade Port and the Air traffic control centre was unaffected throughout the project.
Water Main – King Shaka International Airport
The Durban sun baked down on the Rolkon team as they completed the installation of a water main at King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) for Stefanutti Stocks.
An unplanned but urgent job, the Rolkon team were called in to install an 18m long, 315mm diameter UPVC water main under the road at the airport. A little trick on this job was that the water main had to be pushed and not pulled through the drill hole, which took some extra focus in terms of guiding.
A quick turnaround time on this project and another site successfully resolved!
Anton Lembede Aqueduct – Durban Inner City
This job in the inner city of Durban involved horizontal directional drilling under an existing stormwater culvert to pull an 800mm sleeve with a product pipe weighing 11 tonnes.
The site situation required the pilot to be drilled from 80m away with the hole 4m below ground. At this depth, the hole was below sea level which meant managing the tidal water flow into the hole. The pipe was pulled a total of 18m and the project took 2 days to complete.
Water Main – M13 Fields Hill, Durban
This roadside project required horizontal directional drilling under the M13 highway without causing any disruption to traffic.
A difficult site to access for both machinery and the technical team, we had to target drill because the high traffic volumes did not allow us to navigate across the road.
A job turned down by another drilling company, due to difficult soil conditions and the length of the drill itself, Rolkon took up the challenge and got the job done, living up to our promise of leaving no site unresolved!
