Investors needed

 

Africa:

In recent years the trend has been for foreign investors ploughing huge sums of money into Africa targeting the mineral wealth of Africa whether it be mining or oil exploration. There has, likewise, been a huge investment of money into the infrastructure supporting these other investments. Development such as office blocks, shopping malls, apartment blocks, sports facilities, roads, etc. Sadly the vast majority of investment has come with a price. Companies have entered Africa under the auspice of being ‘the good Samaritan’ and exploiting the recipient for all it can give for as long as it can. A lot of these companies engage or employ local ‘high power’ figures as showpieces for the local population to believe that the operation is an indigenous one when it is, in fact, a foreign owned conglomerate.

These companies set up operations, employ local unskilled labour, and bring in foreign expertise and senior level staffing. The percentages of senior indigenous staff wains in comparison to ‘ex-pat’ staffing levels. It is not uncommon to find under qualified people filling senior positions simply because they are expatriated from Europe, South Africa, etc.

This has to change. Africa is quite capable of engineering herself. Africa has the skill, the expertise, and the heart to stand alone in the world and compete on any given stage.

 

Opportunities in Africa:

Development of rural roads brings multiple socio-economic benefits to the rural areas which form a strong base of the National economy and it is a powerful instrument for the socio-economic transformation of the villages. Awareness of these benefits and their evaluation plays a pivotal role for providing all weather rural roads. The benefits are increased mobility, increased productivity, saving in cost of transportation and speedier flow of commodities.

Rural roads provide basic inputs for all-round socio-economic development of the rural areas. The provision and construction of roads and road links brings multiple socio-economic benefits to the rural areas and results in forming a strong backbone for the agro-based economy. Moreover the importance of providing rural roads can hardly be undermined in the context of our economic and social goals. The impact of providing rural roads accrue in various ways resulting in numerous economic and social benefits- quickly visible and quantifiable as well as indirect and non-quantifiable. Roads play an important role for overcoming the isolation of the villages. It provides a much needed opportunity for the village population to come in contact with other groups of the society, which in turn inculcates in them a sense of being a part of national main stream in its prosperity and progress. The areas here-to-fore inaccessible become easy to reach for administrative and welfare agencies particularly in tunes of natural calamities and for relief operations whenever needed.

The construction of rural road connections changes the life patterns by bringing awareness of the modern means of living like cooking, dressing, recreation, etc. It infuses new ideas regarding the latest technological development in methods of farming, agro-industries, health care, etc.

There are over two hundred thousand kilometres of road covering the countries of Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon of which there is an estimate of 10% paved/tarred surfaces.

The vast majority of the roads, mainly dirt roads, are in very bad condition, a lot of them almost unserviceable. In order to raise the quality of life of the local population in the areas serviced by these roads the condition of the roads has to be addressed, money has to be spent and proper maintenance programmes established and policed.

Serviceable roads means the local population will have better and easier access to facilities such as shops, clinics, schools, etc.

 

Engineering Africa

 

Engineering Africa is a company formed solely to service contracts in Africa. An African company owned by Africans.

The initial business of Engineering Africa will be the construction of roads. There are thousands of kilometres of rural/gravel roads which need to be paved. A lot of these roads are in fact major or, at the very least semi-major, access roads connecting hundreds of towns and villages to developed areas.

Engineering Africa has the skill and expertise to service any contract presented and guarantees not only a professional service but an honest and transparent service as well.

In addition to servicing the infrastructure needs of a developing Africa, Engineering Africa will promote the nurturing and promoting of indigenous skill and talent.

Engineering Africa will encourage those people who have left the continent in order to further their knowledge and education to return and be a part of this reformation.

Future developments.

Engineering Africa will grow as the company develops and matures into the West African market.

Of the two hundred thousand kilometres of roads servicing areas in the West African countries of Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria there is a tremendous amount of room for phenomenal growth.

It is estimated that about 2% of roads in these countries are paved/tarred. That means that there is a total of 196 000 kilometres of roads that need to be addressed. At an average cost of paving one kilometre of road being USD $ 250 000 that represents a total of USD $ 49 billion.

This cost does not take into account the maintenance contracts of existing roads.

Engineering Africa will tender and win contracts for as many road contracts as awarded having a wealth of expertise and a talent pool which is greater than any construction company anywhere in Africa.

Engineering Africa will tender and guarantee delivery of all contracts awarded, on time and within budget.

Engineering Africa is a company dedicated to engineering Africa.

 

 

Staffing:

As with all companies the infrastructure of the company will be divided into Administration, Sales/Marketing, and Production.

Because most contracts will be servicing/ constructing roads in ‘remote’ locations, each contract will have to be approached as completely independent entities. Remote camps will have to be established and serviced by support staff, i.e. catering, camp maintenance etc.

Administration will be accommodated in a major city such as Abuja with satellite office facilities based in cities such as Accra, Lome’, Porto-Novo etc.

Suitably qualified admin staff will ensure the efficient functioning of these bases. This staff base will be sourced locally to the relevant office.

Engineering staff will be independent for each contract. Where possible, local skill and talent will be sourced. Any expertise needed from out of the country will be drawn from Engineering Africa’s existing HR files with the emphasis being on repatriating nationals back to their respective countries.

Initially, Engineering Africa will focus mainly on road construction. As the company progresses and grows then other avenues will be explored. Contracts such as construction of buildings, factories etc. will be done as effectively as the road construction division.

Equipment and staff  relevant to structural construction will be purchased as per contract.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Requirements:

The most important elements of road construction equipment are the heavy vehicles designed to perform specific construction tasks such as site clearing, demolition, transportation, loading and unloading, etc. all of which require machinery and equipment. Such equipment is referred to as PLANT. The chosen supplier is Caterpillar.

 

 

 

Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.[

Caterpillar machinery is recognizable by its trademark "Caterpillar Yellow" livery and the "CAT" logo.

A portion of Caterpillar's business is in the manufacturing of diesel and natural gas engines and gas turbines which, in addition to their use in the company's own vehicles, are used as the prime movers in locomotives, semi- trucks, marine vessels and ships, as well as providing the power source for peak-load power plants and emergency generators.

The basic Plant requirement for road construction is as follows.

 

 

Dozers

The dozer is designed to optimize speed, transportability, manoeuvrability, versatility and finish grading accuracy. These crawler dozers are ideal for  construction performing such tasks as clearing and grading lots, sloping the sides of roads, back-filling, and final grade work for landscaping and driveway construction. The medium-size dozers combine incredible versatility to handle a wide range of jobs with innovations that help do those jobs better, faster and more efficiently. From first pass to finish grade.

Small dozers          

 

. These crawler dozers are ideal for residential construction performing such tasks as clearing and grading lots, sloping the sides of roads, back-filling, and final grade work for landscaping and driveway construction.

Large dozers     

                                                            

Over 310 hp, Caterpillar's large Dozers are engineered for demanding work. Durable construction is ensured for tough working conditions. Elevated sprockets increase productivity, simplify maintenance, reduce downtime with modular components and raise final drives and associated power train components out of the work environment. Cat? Track-Type Tractors keep material moving with the reliability and low operating costs expected from Cat tractors.

Excavators

Excavators remove soil from the ground, and so their presence is pivotal on most building sites. These pieces of heavy machinery feature a boom, a bucket and a cab on a rotating platform above tracked wheels. Because excavators are often enormous, it takes precision and skill to operate one, and therefore an excavator, as with any construction site plant, should be approached only by trained and experienced personnel. 

Mini Excavators

An extensive line of Cat? mini hydraulic excavators offers the performance to dig in and be productive on every job.

Large Excavators

Power, speed, and fuel efficiency make Cat? large hydraulic excavators exceptional choices for bulk earthmoving and heavy lifting applications.

 

                                                             

 

Backhoe Loaders

Whether you're digging, trenching, back-filling or handling material, we have a Cat? Backhoe Loader to meet your needs.

 

Wheeled Loaders

Caterpillar builds a complete line of wheel loaders, including our largest, the Cat? 994F. Also, our Integrated Toolcarriers can operate a wide variety of tools with integral quick couplers for fast tool changes in as little as 30 seconds. No matter what your loading or material handling job is, your Cat dealer can help you choose the wheel loader that best matches your application.

 

                   

Graders

 

                                    

A grader, sometimes also called a road grader, blade, maintainer or motor grader, is a piece of heavy construction machinery with several unique applications. The grader is most often used to flatten surfaces, be they gravel, sand, dirt or asphalt. In some instances, a grader will feature a second blade attached to the front wheels to provide additional precision when evening out a surface.

Graders are often a crucial part of civil engineering and urban development projects because they are used to finish the grade roughly set by heavier and less precise equipment like scrapers and bulldozers. Most of their work is associated with dirt and gravel roads and in setting the base foundation for the application of asphalt on paved highways. Since a road grader, like an asphalt roller, is an integral part of most road construction projects, it's important for every construction company, large or small, that does road work to own one or more.Cat motor graders offer world-class cab and controls, advanced electronics and hydraulics, and optimum productivity.

 

                                                                                                                                                             

 

Dump Trucks

                    

 

The most widely-known piece of construction equipment, dump trucks come in many different designs and sizes. Dumpers are used mainly for site clearing/ rubble removal and delivery of materials necessary for the road-building construction ranging from stone, sand and asphalt. A dump truck is the vehicle of choice for the transportation of loose material such as gravel, dirt or garbage. Most dump trucks have a simple design, including a cab that operates like most medium-sized construction vehicles, and a hydraulically powered bed with an open-box hinge.

 

Articulated Trucks

                

                                                     

 

Simple, easy operation and automotive style comfort along with combined service points and extended service intervals means more focus on the work to be done, more time on the job, less time and money spent on servicing.

 

 

 

Cold Planers

 

 

 

    

 

Cat? Cold Planers put the tons in the trucks hour after hour, shift after shift. Production is not just about horsepower. It’s how the cold planer delivers the power to the rotor. Cat rotor drive systems are the most efficient and the best-protected in the industry. Cat load control provides the most responsive system, keeping engine speed close to peak torque at all times when the cutting gets tough. Cat cutter bits last longer to boost uptime and ultimately production. Clean milled surfaces are left behind due to precise control of moldboard pressure. Cat Grade and Slope option is available for all application requirements.

 

 

Road Reclaimers

Cat road reclaimers pulverize the asphalt layer and mix it with the underlying base to stabilize deteriorated roadways. The reclaimers can add asphalt emulsions or other binding agents during pulverization or during a separate mix pass.

                    

 

 

Wheel Asphalt Pavers

                        

Wheel-equipped pavers offer high mobility for projects that require a lot of paver movement along with a bump-absorbing undercarriage that promotes smooth paving. Cat wheeled pavers have high horsepower and all-wheel drive options to take on the toughest applications. Steering assist produces an incredibly small turning radius so these pavers adapt to operation in confined quarters. The ventilation system draws fumes away from the conveyor tunnel as well as the auger chamber and redirects them away from the operator for a more comfortable working environment. Optional Cat Grade and Slope control produces the ultimate in surface smoothness. A wide range of leveling devices enable Cat Pavers to turn rough surfaces into smooth rides.

 

Track Asphalt Pavers

                                              

Track-equipped pavers offer superior traction for challenging projects that have poor underfoot conditions or the need to push large haul units up steep grades. Mobil-Trac? undercarriage systems provide increased mobility and smooth, quiet operation. Some models are available with steel tracks for dependable use and low-cost maintenance. All models feature material feed systems with individual control of conveyors and augers designed to provide continuous, segregation-free material flow to the screed. The ventilation system draws fumes away from the conveyor tunnel as well as the auger chamber and redirects them away from the operator for a more comfortable working environment.

 

A paver is a piece of construction equipment used to lay asphalt on roads, bridges, parking lots and other such places. It lays the asphalt flat and provides minor compaction before it is rolled by a roller.

Wheel-equipped pavers offer high mobility for projects that require a lot of paver movement along with a bump-absorbing undercarriage that promotes smooth paving. Cat wheeled pavers have high horsepower and all-wheel drive options to take on the toughest applications. Steering assist produces an incredibly small turning radius so these pavers adapt to operation in confined quarters.

 

Screeds

                           

 

Cat? Screeds can be configured to match any paving application - from highways to city streets to parking lots. Even when set up for maximum paving width, Cat Screeds resist flexing due to unique, robust guide tube design. Select front-mount or rear-mount hydraulic screed extensions, both with optional power-extending main frames. Caterpillar has a full line of vibratory and tamper bar screeds to cover all paving widths while producing high density layers on asphalt as well as other granular materials. User-friendly controls simplify tamper setup and vibrating frequencies to match production rate, paving depth and paving speed. Operators can easily adjust the ramp time for tamping speed. Cat Screeds are simple to set up for consistently smooth transverse joints and minimum screed plate wear. Heavy-duty frames on both 2.5 m (8.0') and 3.0 m (10') screeds allow installation of bolt-on screed extensions for extra-wide paving.

Tanker sprayers

Bitumen, usually in the form of an emulsion, is sprayed onto the road surface at an appropriate rate from the spray bar at the rear of a large tanker containing the bitumen emulsion. Chippings of an appropriate size are immediately applied to the bitumen by a large spreader, which usually tows behind it a lorry containing the chippings.

.Asphalt Roller                                                              

An asphalt roller, which is often called a cement roller, steam roller, road roller or drum roller, is a smaller piece of heavy machinery intended to compact asphalt, concrete, soil or gravel, often with the purpose of finishing a newly constructed roadway.

Although asphalt rollers are still often called steam rollers, they are actually powered by diesel or gasoline. The name steam roller stretches back to the device's roots in the 19th century, when early construction crews (usually private landowners or dwellers) made the switch from horse-drawn rollers to single- or double-cylindered steam rollers that operated via steam engines. Road construction companies continued to use steam-powered rollers until just after the Second World War.

Tandem Vibratory Rollers

Cat Tandem Vibratory Rollers are available in a range of sizes and configurations to meet any application. Large double-drums are simple to set up for maximum compaction efficiency on any type of mix.

 

                             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

Get it dense and keep it smooth. Cat Tandem Vibratory Rollers do that and more. Caterpillar offers a vibratory system for every application. Most models have high frequency combined with low amplitude that match high paving speed on thin lifts as well as low frequency with high amplitude that match low paving speed on thick lifts of stiff material. As stand-alone units or as complements to high production tandem rollers,

 

 Cat Utility Rollers set the standards for versatility and reliability. A wide range of drum widths lets you precisely match the machine to the job requirements—whether it’s a narrow shoulder, a patching project, a parking lot or a bicycle path. Vibratory systems are characterized by high frequency for fast working speed and high compaction energy for getting density in the fewest passes.

 

Compactors

 Vibratory Soil Compactors

Smooth drum compactors produce consistently reliable results when compacting semi-cohesive and granular materials. With operating weights up to almost 19 metric tons, there is a Cat Soil Compactor sized to meet the most demanding production and density requirements. Padfoot drum compactors produce consistently reliable results when compacting semi-cohesive and cohesive materials.

 Pads are tapered and penetrate deeply into the soil to build strength from the bottom up. Small pad face area concentrates force to deliver the highest compaction energy so production goals are met with fewer units and less fuel consumed. All dual-amplitude models feature an exclusive Cat eccentric weight design that assures positive amplitude selection while preventing contamination of the weight shaft bearing lubrication.               

 

CS78B

 

 

Pneumatic Rollers

 

Cat Pneumatic Rollers work effectively on a wide range of applications. Models with oscillating wheels are used on sub-grade soil, granular material or cold mix to create additional density and find weak areas so they can be repaired before paving. Cat Pneumatic Rollers are also used on hot mix asphalt in the initial breakdown and intermediate phases to increase density and to seal the surface of the mat. Lightweight models create a tight bond when applied to chip and seal surfaces. It’s easy to tailor the ground contact pressure to the job. Cat models have easy-to-fill ballast tanks, modular steel ballast configurations and various tire options.

 

 

Transporters

 

 

A low loader is a semi-trailer with two drops in deck height: one right after the gooseneck and one right before the wheels. This allows the deck to be extremely low compared with other trailers. It offers the ability to carry legal loads up to 12 ft (3.66 m) tall, which other trailers cannot. Lowboys are used to haul heavy equipment such as bulldozers, industrial equipment etc

 

 

 

Maintenance:

The regular maintenance of any equipment is vital regardless of whether it is a piece of office equipment or construction plant. However, maintenance on plant is something which must be regimented, controlled and carried out with absolute attention. Maintenance on construction plant is in fact a division on its’ own and is a totally separate cost centre.

Training:                       

Road construction equipment is expensive and complicated to use, which means it's important for anyone interested in these massive pieces of machinery to spend significant time learning about and training to operate each one.

Engineering Africa will establish formal training programs ensuring that all personnel are fully trained and equipped with the appropriate skill to operate the various construction equipment/Plant. In some cases an individual may be trained to operate several different types of Plant. Furthering the knowledge and skill of all staff, at all levels, is the underlying ethos of Engineering Africa and will be constantly encouraged.

 

 

Keith Millar. CEO

 

Keith Millar has vast experience in construction and construction management having worked in various arenas around the world. Keith was born in the United Kingdom but raised and educated in South Africa. Having lived in Africa most of his life, Keith’s allegiance is very much entrenched in Africa. Keith is very passionate about construction and the dream of Engineering Africa is the culmination of 30 years work and striving for a wholly owned African company working towards the betterment of Africa and her people.

Keith via Engineering Africa will only entertain African nationals on its’ board and aims towards filling all senior positions with African skill and will strongly encourage African education with the emphasis that African qualifications are world class, recognized and often better than European, American or any other internationally  gained degrees.

 

 

Modus Operandi:

 

Engineering Africa is an African company staffed by Africans for the betterment and improvement of Africans. Where possible all materials necessary for the completion of any contract will be sourced locally, if not within the immediate area, imported from a neighbouring area. Any materials, equipment parts, special materials or parts, equipment or machinery necessary for the servicing of any contract will be sourced locally or, if imported, utilizing local import/shipping companies.

Once the tender has been awarded all the necessary departments will actioned. Any additional expertise needed will be sourced drawn from the company HR data base.