COLOSSAL CONCRETE PRODUCTS MAKES A CONCRETE DIFFERENCE

There is light at the end of the tunnel for South Africa’s railway network, according to Colossal Concrete Products, Southern Africa’s largest producer of precast concrete railway sleepers.

Chief Executive Officer, Gwen Mahuma-Madida and Chief Operating Officer, Mmapitso Kiewiet – who both personify the pivotal role women play in the rail and infrastructure sectors – believe that the thousands of kilometres of track criss-crossing South Africa will over time be restored, contributing towards economic recovery and forging critical linkages across the SADC region and into Africa.

A Colossal vision for rail

Mahuma-Madida explains that she, together with fellow investors, chose the name ‘Colossal’ because they had a colossal or massive vision of developing infrastructure products and services across the continent.

In 2021, Colossal Concrete Products – a Level 1 B-BBEE venture – purchased a precast concrete products manufacturing facility in Brakpan and a mothballed operation at De Aar in the Northern Cape from the company formerly known as Aveng Infraset.

The De Aar facility reopened in October last year, following the conclusion of a 1-year contract with Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) to supply precast concrete railway sleepers for upgrading of existing rail infrastructure. This has been extended by six months to December 2024.

Both Mahuma-Madida and Kiewiet believe that rail will rise above challenges such as poor maintenance, vandalism, theft and lack of investment: “With new leadership, there is a fresh new and invigorated approach and mind set. This will not only have a major impact on the rail network and other infrastructure of the country, but also on our own workforce. We can produce a million sleepers a year – and so currently, are not even scratching the surface of our full capacity,” Mahuma-Madida points out.

“Having said this, we believe that we will benefit from the escalation in the delivery of infrastructure upgrades – as well as the resumption of maintenance of our rail infrastructure. However, we can also increase demand for our products through working closely with the private sector in construction, mining, engineering and renewable energy. This applies both in South Africa and throughout Sub-Saharan Africa – where we are actively pursuing distribution agreements for our products,” she comments.

Pan-African infrastructure expansion

Colossal’s opportunities extend beyond their contract with Transnet Freight Rail. The company also supplies PRASA via third-party contractors; as well as private sector rail projects at sites such as a manganese ore mine in the Northern Cape.

Colossal also recently supplied rail sleepers and poles for a 109-kilometre railway upgrade project in Namibia and distributes poles in Botswana. In further expansion, the company’s recent distribution agreement and collaboration with Eswatini precast concrete manufacturer and distributor NPC is expected to open up a new sub-Saharan African market – and an export springboard for precast concrete products via the port of Maputo in neighbouring Mozambique.

Mahuma-Madida says that Colossal has a variety of products – including concrete poles, masts, culverts and pipes – which play a role in the whole infrastructure value chain.

“We are also trying to grow into larger markets such as telecommunications, energy and construction. One of our most significant advantages is the flexibility to set a unique and sustainable system of modular, portable ‘project factories’ which cater for specific projects and can be dismantled post-completion.”