International Consulting Engineering Company Royal HaskoningDHV (RHDHV) has appointed Salani Sithole as the MD for its South African operations with effect from 1 March this year.

Prior to joining the company Sithole held various positions in a broad range of fields, including senior managememt positions in the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Transnet, Eskom and the City of Johannesburg.

Career specifics
Sithole has been with RHDHV for six years and is described by colleagues as possessing a wide spectrum of knowledge and experience, as well as a thorough understanding of the company.
He currently holds a number of other positions: he is vice-chairperson for Southern African Netherlands Chamber of Commerce; Chairperson for the Consulting Engineers South Africa, Transport Liaison Committee and board member for the Private Civil Engineering Testing Laboratory.

Sithole joined RHDHV as the group manager of marketing and business development. Since then he has occupied a number of strategic roles including: group manager for strategic project development and director of the business unit for rail and logistics.

“We are happy that Salani accepted this position. With his professional background and knowledge of the local business and its specific requirements, we feel he is the right person to further boost our South African operations,” says Erik Oostwegel, chairman of the Executive Board. “At the same time he knows there is a wealth of in-depth knowledge and expertise available to him and his team through the global network of professionals in Royal HaskoningDHV,” Oostwegel adds.

National Development prioritised
Sithole comments on his new position: “Ultimately the work we do is servicing end users – the people of South Africa and Africa. The people of South Africa are at the heart of the proposed infrastructure development through the Government’s National Development Plan. We fully support this plan in order to grow the economy of the country, alleviate poverty and thereby uplift the people of our country.”

Some projects which RHDHV has contributed towards include the Mohale Dam for the Lesotho Highlands Project and the Ingula Peaking Power Station still under construction which both provide water and energy. Projects that guarantee safer travelling between communities are the Umgeni Viaduct in KwaZulu Natal, the Blackburn Pedestrian Bridge across the N3 Highway in eThekwini and the HoMofutho Bridge in Lesotho.