| Les Maker, General Manager of Akhatech takes up the story: “Our first task was to advise the Elundini Municipality on their wish-list for earthmoving equipment,” he says. “We looked at their needs and helped them prepare a public tender which was awarded to Bell Equipment, through their Customer Service Centre in East London.”
The Elundini Local Municipality has since taken delivery of three Bell B20D Articulated Dump Trucks (ADTs), a Bell HD820E Excavator, a Bell 315SJ 4x4 Tractor Loader Backhoe (TLB), a Bomag BW212D-40 Padfoot Vibrating Roller and a 1 000-litre diesel trailer, a Bell 672G Grader, an 18 000-litre Water Bowser on a Bell B20D chassis and a high-pressure water washer. “Our advice to the Elundini Local Municipality was that the Bell HD820E Excavator would be the ideal loading tool for the proven Bell B20D ADTs, which can be licensed to be operated on public roads,” Maker adds. “We also specified a drum-driven vibrating roller due to the often steep terrain that we encounter here and Bell Equipment’s Bomag BW212D-40 fits the bill perfectly.” Maker further expands on the role of the Bell 315SJ TLB by stating that he saw this versatile machine as being used for trenching, pipe laying, material loading and general betterment and housekeeping on construction sites. The Bell 672G Grader will be used to carry out the pioneering work and shaping of the road profile before importing gravel. It will then be used to level the gravel heaps whilst the Bomag and the water tanker work in tandem to compact the gravel layer. The team will be used primarily to construct rural access roads among villages in the Maclear area. Akhatech would manage the selection and temporary appointment of the operators for the new fleet, which would be drawn from the local population. Their initial training and evaluation would in turn, be done by Bell Equipment. Operators would be employed on a three-month trial period after which they could apply for the permanent posts with the Municipality. Gavin Hall is the Deputy Infrastructure Manager for the Elundini Local Municipality and he is well pleased with the way the process has run to date. “We’re very excited about the prospect of developing our municipal area with our own fleet of machines and adding value by empowering local people with new skills,” he says. “Knowing that we’ve got the backing of a world renowned company such as Bell Equipment, and that we will be adding to our skills with our eagerness to learn from Les Maker and his team, makes us confident to really fulfill our promises of efficient service delivery.” |
| Elundini geared for service delivery with new Bell fleet The Eastern Cape Province is a picturesque place where rolling hills are dotted with thousands of traditional houses. District and local municipalities have been tasked with providing services such as roads, drainage, water and sanitation, which in turn has led to many such local government structures buying their own fleets of earthmoving and related plant.
When Ms Chuleza Qotoyi, the Technical Services Manager of the Elundini Local Municipality at Maclear saw the need for such a fleet, she first approached the Alfred Nzo District Municipality at Mount Ayliff, which already had such a fleet in operation, to discuss the most appropriate way to operate and manage a road construction fleet of this nature. The potential problem of a skills shortage, on both management and skills transfer levels, was solved when the Elundini Local Municipality appointed consultants Akhatech (Pty) Ltd from Pietermartizburg as fleet managers for the earthmoving equipment they wanted to buy |