Expanding its range of capabilities year-on-year, Entsika Consulting Services now offers the market a multidisciplinary and integrated range of services encompassing engineering and construction, plant infrastructure asset management, consulting, internal auditing, training and skills development, and enterprise development.

They all work together to ensure seamless project and service delivery.

An Auditor General (AG) media release, published on 26 June 2019, flagged a lack of accountability as the major cause of poor local government audit results and the report lists a number of main indicators for the deteriorating accountability during the year under the review – one being the “shortcomings in the development and maintenance of infrastructure”.

These included the underspending of grants, delays in project completion, and non-compliance with supply chain management legislation.

The AG cited as a key concern “the lack of attention paid to water and sanitation infrastructure”.

He said the condition of water and/or sanitation infrastructure was not assessed by 32% of the municipalities responsible for water and sanitation; and almost half did not have policies for maintenance.

Furthermore, the AG found that 39% of the municipalities that disclosed their water losses reported losses of more than 30%, resulting in an overall loss of R2.6 billion.

The AG also highlighted that the maintenance of roads did not receive the necessary attention, with the condition of roads not being assessed by 23% of the municipalities responsible for roads and 41% not having a road maintenance plan.

Quoting directly from the AG’s media release, “These findings indicate major shortfalls in fiscal discipline, maintenance planning and project execution,” says Clifford Makoloane, director, Entsika.

“The upside is that they also open the door to new business opportunities for contractors as municipalities weigh up the benefits of outsourcing operations and maintenance management to specialist engineering service providers.”

Entsika is a Level 1 BBBEE Contributor and is a black-owned and -managed business. It was founded by professionals with extensive experience in plant infrastructure asset management (maintenance management), consulting, internal auditing, training and skills development, enterprise development, as well as engineering and construction.

Entsika has delivered on various large projects at both national and local levels. These include water and wastewater pump station maintenance, asset and infrastructure management, water conservation and water demand management, Green and Blue Drop, and water quality management projects.

Other projects completed or in progress include process improvement projects, verification of property rates and taxes arrears across 133 municipalities, asset and expenditure verification, and the installation and equipping of boreholes.

Entsika works with leading organisations such as the Department of Public Works, Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Department of Social Development, Rand Water, and ERWAT, to name a few.

Investing in people

Entsika’s technical excellence success hinges on its people. The company employs more than 60 field-proven experts in its Asset Management (maintenance management), and Engineering and Construction divisions. They comprise mechanical, electrical and civil engineers, as well as qualified artisans.

In conjunction with TVET colleges, Entsika’s skills programmes train, develop and qualify a growing pool of fitters and turners, electricians, and instrumentation specialists, supported by semi-skilled and assistant workers who are being mentored to grow into any one of these fields.

Growth areas

The asset and infrastructure management side of the business is undergoing rapid expansion, with a niche focus on the water, wastewater, mining and power sectors. Central to Entsika’s future growth strategy is the expansion of its engineering and construction capabilities.

Entsika is currently graded as an 8MEPE, 5EPPE, 6CEPE, and 1GBPE contractor in terms of the Construction Industry Development Board system. The business, in all areas, serves the Southern African region, for both private and public sector clients.

Entsika has set its sights on business expansion in the water and wastewater segment by providing specialist O&M services to clients, helping them manage their infrastructure assets across the mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and civil disciplines.

“Infrastructure such as electrical equipment, roads, water and wastewater systems are ageing, and their maintenance should be placed as a high priority on the strategic and operational plans of municipalities,” says Makoloane. “It’s one of the keys to sustainable development and economic growth within the country.”

The benefits of infrastructure maintenance are that it:

• keeps infrastructure operational and delivering services
• creates sustainable jobs
• saves costs in the long term, and often in the short term as well
• will ensure that more funds for new infrastructure will be available in the future.

OEM partnerships

Entsika – in partnership with key OEMs that include Xylem, a leading US-based multinational – installs and services OEM submersible pump systems, including associated equipment and/or components for both public and private sector clients in the water and wastewater segments.

Entsika believes that the private sector has much to offer in the maintenance of infrastructure and that it can be given the opportunity to do so through the establishment of strategic partnerships in terms of service level agreements (SLAs) between government institutions, including municipalities.

SLAs are important to ensure the maintainability, availability and reliability of existing and future infrastructure, ensuring sustainable service delivery provision at all times.

To top it off, such SLAs have the potential to encourage further investment and stimulate job creation, locally, provincially
and nationally.

Bespoke services

Entsika provides asset management services that are tailor-made in collaboration with its clients across all industry sectors, and the company assists them to:

• maximise operational availability and reliability through the application and execution of sustainable asset management practices
• identify, review and develop asset management strategies, plans, processes and practices, and implement them organisation-wide to achieve maximum long-term operational availability and reliability
• review and optimise the management of assets in line with operational objectives and targets.

Entsika believes that effective and efficient asset maintenance execution is one of the tools to optimise operations without compromising the safety, health, environment and quality of the organisation.

Its maintenance team has the capacity to meet the asset maintenance needs of any client. Services include the following:

• asset maintenance planning and scheduling of preventative, corrective and predictive (condition-based) maintenance tasks
• asset maintenance execution in terms of servicing, repairs and refurbishment of mechanical, electrical and instrumentation equipment and machinery, including facilities maintenance
• asset maintenance spare parts and inventory management
• development of asset maintenance strategies and plans
• refurbishment of equipment and machinery, such as pumps, motors, valves, gearboxes, to name a few
• performance monitoring and reporting (i.e. KPAs/KPIs)
• safety management in terms of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (No. 85 of 1993) requirements.

The company provides a comprehensive, full-service package to asset owners to fully or partly outsource the maintenance of their assets.

Furthermore, the company also collaborates and partners with other likeminded service providers such as the likes of Electrical and Pump Centre, that possesses excellent technical skills in the repairs of pumps, motors and gearboxes amongst others, using advanced designs and modern techniques.

Engineering and construction

Entsika’s Engineering and Construction Division provides a wide range of mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and civil engineering services across all industry sectors.

These include:

• the design, supply, installation, construction and commissioning of plant, equipment and machinery, including the provision of technical assistance to client staff
• civil works, which includes the construction, upgrading and rehabilitation of roads, stormwater infrastructure, paving of streets, bridge construction, including mass earthworks and geotechnical surveys
• general building works, which includes foundation and geotechnical works, various brick works, concrete works, paving, roofing, and plumbing works associated with residential and commercial buildings
• re-engineering and refurbishment of equipment, machinery and facilities
• project management services on any turnkey engineering and construction project, including feasibility studies, project scoping, planning and scheduling, as well as material procurement and quality management, just to name a few.

Minecrete-S³

Furthermore, Entsika, in partnership with South African Mining & Engineering Supplies, provides a product named Minecrete-S³ as an alternative solution to existing and/or new civil infrastructure works. Clients can reduce their shotcrete application by half with Minecrete-S³. This product can be used for sealing of existing waterways, roadway structures, water canals and damage associated with water flow, among other applications.

Some of the key features of MineCrete-S³ are as follows:

• Minecrete-s³ is a super strong shotcrete with excellent bond and water permeability characteristics.
• Minecrete-s³ is a quick cure product, achieving up to 70% of its total strength after one day.
• Minecrete-s³ is a 100% water sealing product.
• Minecrete-s³ has excellent energy absorption strengths of 915 J in 24 hours for ground movement.

“Proper maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructure is critical to the long life and safe operation of plant and equipment, and Entsika is committed to making a difference by providing municipalities with a comprehensive infrastructure maintenance proposal,” says Makoloane.

“That will also address service delivery challenges, without compromising on the safety, health, environment and quality of the assets and/or plant,” he concludes.