GEORGE NEWS - The Eden district municipality and four local Southern Cape municipalities have won a much coveted award for their handling of the water crisis in the region.

Representatives from Eden, George, Bitou, Mossel Bay and Knysna were jointly named the CESA Glenrand MIB Visionary Client of the Year. The annual prestigious CESA Glenrand MIB Engineering Excellence Awards hosted by Consulting Engineers of South Africa (CESA), was held at the Vodadome in Midrand on 18 August.
The representatives who were honoured are Gerhard Otto, Eden manager of emergency services; Nico Liebenberg, engineering planning head at Mossel Bay; Phumla Ngqumshe, Bitou head of services and infrastructure development; Nealle Perring, the director of technical services at Knysna; and Harold Basson, senior manager of civil engineering services in George.

According to CESA CEO, Graham Pirie, the 2010 awards is a celebration of innovation, quality, outstanding workmanship and professionalism. "CESA is proud to host this annual event, sponsored by Glenrand MIB, as a platform to showcase the important role that infrastructure plays in the sustainable development of our country. The event is the highlight of the year in the organisation’s calendar and is a spectacular networking opportunity for leaders in industry as they celebrate the cream of South Africa’s consulting engineers."

The awards focus on consulting engineers and their clients who participate in or initiate projects that promote the advancement of the nation and the people of the continent.
"2010 has been a year in which this passion and drive to deliver has been highlighted more than ever. The question has to be asked: Was the 2010 Soccer World Cup a sporting event or an infrastructure showcase? It is an undeniable truth that without the latter the former would not be possible."

Due to the Soccer World Cup a once off ‘Soccer Stadiums’ category was added to the other 11 existing categories and engineering firm, BKS-BTKM-PMSA Joint Venture won the award for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
In the Visionary Client of the Year category, CESA based their choice not only on technological innovation and excellence, but sustainable job creation and skills transfer were also considered.

Pirie praised the winners for their speedy action plan when new sources of water were urgently required to prevent complete water supply failure. "Provincial government through the Eden disaster management centre formed a task team to manage and provide assistance to the affected municipalities. In a matter of weeks the task team created an innovative demand based solution to maximise all current water supply systems. This was supplemented with a desalination solution as well as indirect water re-use from waste water treatment plants."