Hybrid Industry Event | CSIR International Convention Centre & Online
Focus Areas
Our presentations will revolve around 5 critical focus areas of the bitumen industry. Asphalt, Seals and Binders focus areas emphasize developments and solutions at asphalt’s core, while Construction and Manufacturing and Chemistry work towards practical achievement of long term durability. Collectively, diligence, innovation, and solutions-driven content from the lab to the roadway promote sustainability in the South African asphalt pavements sector. We are excited to introduce you to our Focus Area Chairs and Mentors.
- Growing the relationship between asphalt mix design and pavement design.
- BROAG and other new friction courses.
- National status of EME. How is it measuring up against concrete pavements and other heavy duty pavement options including modified asphalt?
- Preparatory work for seals and slurries. Lessons and best practice reminders.
- Is the ROI on seals sliding towards negative with the price of bitumen?
- Fog spray and spray-on rejuvenators. Myth-busters on why we have not moved forward with the technology.
- How is an AP1 made in SA?
- How is import-only bitumen affecting confidence and technology in modified binders?
- Why are we not importing modified bitumen? Are the locally modified binders better?
- Compiling a practical method statement to construct your flexible pavement.
- The contractual relationship between asphalt paving contractors and flexible pavement construction contractors.
- The evolving role of a quality construction manager.
- How year-end shutdown maintenance can change the quality of your asphalt.
- How to reduce the carbon footprint of your asphalt manufacturing plant and process.
- Retrofitting manufacturing control software and hardware. Are SA plants keeping pace?
- What is this mythical linking agent for differentiated modified binders?
- Aggregate and binder compatibility issues.
- Do modifiers disappear over time and bitumen just resolves to a harder pen? The status of this debate.
FOCUS AREA CHAIRS
Please click on the Photo for full profile.
Avi-Nash Sukuram
Nishaat Mowzer
Belindar Preethapal
Gary Wright
Craig Naicker
Sthabile Sibiya
Avi-Nash Sukuram
Avi-Nash has more than a decade of design and contract administration experience in roads and civil infrastructure. In 2017 he won the SAICE’s national award for Young Professional Technologist of the Year. Avi-Nash has published and presented various pavement engineering technical papers and is also a qualified and registered arbitrator, adjudicator and mediator.
Nishaat Mowzer
Nishaat is an Associate Pavement Engineer with extensive experience in the design of new roads and the maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrading of roads for clients such as the City of Cape Town, local municipalities, SANRAL, the Western Cape Provincial Government, and ACSA. She is an external examiner for Stellenbosch University in Pavement Engineering and the SAT Southern Region Chairperson. Nishaat was the Seals Focus Area Chair at the 2022 SATBinderrr Conference and sits on a forum that seeks to identify mutually beneficial research projects for universities while effectively coordinating the needs of industry in the Western Cape.
Belindar Preethapal
When Belindar entered the industry in 2013 as an in-service student, she had no idea what bitumen was. In 10 years, she has progressed from Trainee Technician to Civil Technician to Senior Laboratory Technician, and today heads up a very busy test laboratory for a major asphalt manufacturer.
Gary Wright
Gary is a relative newcomer to the industry. While studying towards his MEng Civil at Stellenbosch University in 2020, he gained work experience with Bitumen World on its Beitbridge project in Zimbabwe. Later that year he returned to the South African construction sector, where he has progressed rapidly from Construction Supervisor to Quality Assurance Manager on various N2 asphalt projects. Gary is Joint-Chair of the Construction & Manufacturing Focus area with Craig Naicker.
Craig Naicker
After gaining experience in the finance and statistics field, coupled with an MBA, Craig pursued a career as an entrepreneur. This gave him the opportunity to grow a business into a leading asphalt paving contractor in the KZN region. Craig has substantial experience in leading a complex organization. As managing director of his company his role is to develop high quality business strategies and plans that align with short- and long-term objectives. Craig is Joint-Chair of the Construction & Manufacturing Focus area with Gary Wright.
Sthabile Sibiya
Sthabile is a civil engineering technologist with over eight years of experience in road pavement design and rehabilitation and works as a Project Lead on small to medium-sized projects. She was an integral part of the pavements design team for the Upgrade of National Route 3 Section 3, a project worth R1.4 billion, and has designed and managed numerous projects for local, provincial and national authorities. She is currently researching bond coats for South African conditions as part of the development of a specification for the local industry.
FOCUS AREA MENTORS
Please click on the Photo for full profile.
Tumelo Thothela
Gerrie van Zyl
Jacques van Heerden
Eben van Zyl
Georges Mturi
Tumelo Thothela
Tumelo is a pavement engineering specialist and completed his MBA through the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in 2017. He is a co-founder of a civil engineering consultancy where he serves as Operations Director, responsible for strategy, business development, marketing, operational and personnel management, staff training and mentoring, engineering design and contract administration. Tumela chaired the Pavement Recycling Focus Area at SATBinderrr 2022.
Gerrie van Zyl
Gerrie has been involved in the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and management of roads since 1983. His specialization in road asset management, gravel road performance, surfacing seals, and low volume roads has led to his involvement in several research studies, publishing of best practice manuals and papers, and training on these topics, locally and internationally. He has investigated the causes and mechanisms of premature failures on numerous occasions for roads authorities, consultants, and contractors.
Jacques van Heerden
Jacques’ interest in bitumen began in 2004 with the evaluation of new crude oils for bitumen production. He has more than 15 years of practical experience in the rheological evaluation of bituminous binders, working with local and international bituminous product producers and users. He also trains students at several tertiary institutions in rheological testing. His passion for bituminous binders has led to involvement in technical committees and road binder investigations. His current focus is on developing new test methods for the performance evaluation of binders in road construction and developing new innovative bituminous products.
Eben van Zyl
Eben graduated with a Master’s Degree in Engineering in 2014 and has specialized in the construction of asphalt pavement layers for the past 10 years, moving in that period right to the top as managing director of one of South Africa’s best respected road construction and asphalt surfacing companies.
Georges Mturi
Georges is the recipient of the JD Roberts Award, Standard Bank Rising Star Award (Service: Public and Private Category), and finalist of the NSTF-South32 Green Economy Award in 2021/22. He currently serves the roads industry as a materials consultant and the SABS sub-committee chairperson for bituminous and granular road construction materials. He consults on multi-disciplinary research project teams involving the sustainable use of waste and alternative materials for road construction, innovative road technologies, advanced road material characterization, and forensic investigations of road failures across the African continent.
