SA construction company aids Pakistan in flood recovery efforts
When the Kabul River tore through villages in Pakistan, sweeping away homes in minutes, an Eastern Cape building firm never imagined it would be called in to help pick up the pieces.
But Moladi, the Nelson Mandela Bay modular construction company, has been asked by authorities in the hard-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to help shore up the river and begin the long, painful work of rebuilding for families left with nothing.
Their first task is a rather massive one, said Moladi owner Hennie Botes.
He said they first needed to construct a flood-containment wall along a lengthy stretch of the Kabul River.
That is where swollen waters recently carved a path of destruction through already vulnerable communities.
Since late June, exceptionally heavy monsoon rains have triggered flash floods across Pakistan, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority had issued high-alert warnings as the Kabul River and its tributaries swelled to dangerous levels.
The toll has been catastrophic as about 500 people have died in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, and thousands of homes have been destroyed.
Across the country, millions have been affected, with major displacement and growing risk of disease in overcrowded camps.
Speaking to IOL, Botes said he was called by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa housing authority “out of the blue”, as officials scrambled for “fast, reliable solutions”.
Once the protective barrier is up, Moladi will turn to the second phase — producing rapid, low-cost homes for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the floods.
Imran Wazir, director-general of the province’s housing authority said the deal formed part of an emergency effort to stabilise the riverbank and “restore safe shelter and dignity” to those uprooted.
IOL has seen a copy of the the agreement signed between Moladi, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Housing Authority and the OSA Group of Companies.
The parties agreed to the terms on September 1 and was formally signed on October 16 in Peshawar.
The Housing Authority is the main government body in charge of the programme.
Moladi, which was established in the 1980s, has been brought in to supply its building system so that houses can be built quickly and at a lower cost while OSA is included as the third partner, meaning it will assist in the project where needed.
The document also shows that the homes will be funded through corporate social responsibility contributions.
This means private companies will help finance the building of the units.
In Pakistan, such funding is often used to support rebuilding in areas hit by severe flooding, repeated displacement and long-standing housing shortages.
Botes said the moment he was told about the issue he went to Pakistan to assess the damage himself.
He said the idea of constructing a wall was discussed but it apparently became clear that a standard wall would not have worked.
He said if they had built an ordinary wall, the floodwaters would have slowly eroded the foundations.
“Eventually it would give way,” he said, adding it just would not have been strong enough to handle the repeated flooding in the area.
“Repeated flooding would eventually break it.
“You have to remember, the river doesn’t just rise once — it surges again and again during the monsoon season.”
Botes added: “The water carries a lot of things, including debris, so all of it slams against the wall.
“That constant pounding would chip away at any standard structure … without proper design for these conditions, it just won’t hold.”
Botes said he also examined Moladi’s existing construction methods to see what could be adapted for flood protection.
He said he looked at concrete units designed to protect riverbanks and slow water flow.
But, he said, the units would let too much water pass through.
That led him to design a new type of flood-retention wall.
“I came up with a three-layered system, with one layer behind the other,” he said.
“The back layer is the lowest, the middle layer slightly higher, and the front layer the tallest.
“Each layer supports the one in front, creating a stepped structure that holds back water more effectively than a single wall could.”
Botes said the housing authorities approved the design, giving Moladi the go-ahead to construct the wall along roughly 100km of the river.
“Projects like this remind me why we do what we do,” he said.
“It is all about resilience, security, and giving people a chance to start over after such devastating floods.
“That’s what makes this project so special.”
IOL News