Aurecon, along with more than 750 members of government, the media and the construction industry, will attend the 77^th annual CPD-accredited Institute of Municipal Engineering of South Africa (IMESA) conference from 23 to 25 October at the Boardwalk Hotel and Conference Centre in Port Elizabeth.

According to Frank Stevens, president of IMESA, the theme for the 2013 conference is ‘Municipal Engineering: Meeting People’s Needs’, which will see a strong focus on turn-around strategies aimed at tackling issues such as unlawful strikes, failures in water supply, sewerage conveyance and treatment systems and poor road maintenance conditions.

Danie Wium, Industry Director for Government and Head of Competencies, says: “The current need to improve services in a growing country has resulted in a unique range of both engineering and associated challenges which need to be addressed. Aurecon’s integrated, one-stop approach to meeting service delivery challenges extends beyond engineering solutions to include in-depth expertise on a range of operational, institutional and environmental aspects of infrastructure delivery.”

He goes on to comment that the group is renowned for its ability to partner with government entities, whether cities and other municipalities, regional or national government bodies, who are committed to providing communities with high quality, cost-effective and sustainable services.

Aurecon’s support of IMESA demonstrates the group’s commitment to providing clients with integrated, cost-effective solutions that take account of their broad-based project and policy objectives.

A number of Aurecon speakers will be presenting papers on the following topics:

• The Impact Membrane Bio Reactor at the Malmesbury WWTW (MphoRamphao).
• Outcomes from a sewer backlog study (MornePienaar).
• Innovative approach for the operation and maintenance of Zeerust WWTW (Casper Coetzee/Hendrik Honey).
• Lifetime costs of pipelines (Dr. Mike Shand).
• Simple tool for annual infrastructure valuations based on the construction price ADJ factor (Dr. Hal Belmonte).
• Stakeholder management and community facilitation as a means to meet people’s needs in a developmental project (LindilizwiMngxekeza).

As a Silver Sponsor, Aurecon will host an exhibition stand at which delegates are invited to engage with its experts on pertinent topics, including gaining valuable information and insight into solving everyday service delivery challenges faced by the industry.

Details of the event are available on the IMESA website at www.imesa.org.za.