CPS Live Ltd, an estate developer, launched Fumba Town in 2015. It is a modern African town in Zanzibar that lies just over 16 nautical miles from the Tanzanian mainland.
Fumba Town is made up of 3,000 housing units, as well as commercial, retail, hotel, and medical spaces. It is situated on 150 acres at the Indian Ocean shore of Fumba Peninsula. CPS Live’s main objectives included developing modern units that did not compromise quality. Sustainability was another important consideration. Fumba Town aimed to use as many locally available materials as possible.
It was essential to the entire construction that the landscape that had made Zanzibar such a desirable destination was preserved. However, ensuring Fumba Town’s aesthetics and the project’s facilities functionalities presented some engineering challenges, one of which was freshwater storage. How do you install tanks that will provide adequate potable water but not mar Zanzibar’s picturesque scene?
One of the project’s new retail blocks needed a 50,000 litre (50m3) rooftop tank to service the building with a large volume of drinking water.
Plasco had to design the tank so that it could fit in a limited space. The tanks were not meant to be visible from ground level and were to not protrude above the bund wall that surrounds the rooftop.
“Zanzibar is one of the most scenic locations and erecting a forest of uninspiring tall vertical moulded or steel tanks would have been an injustice to Fumba’ Town residents,” said Plasco CEO, Ali Gulamhussein
Sustainability was also an important consideration for project’s developers and again this presented another set of challenges because the traditional building technology such as moulded plastic tanks and their steel equivalents would not achieve this desired result.
If the construction team had followed the usual practice of using moulded, plastic tanks, many tanks would have been used. Because they are only available as small-capacity units, they would not have been possible to use them all. They are also susceptible to leakages, have a short service life and can be easily damaged on-site.
Steel tanks, on the other side, are not readily accessible in Tanzania and have a shorter lifespan and leakage vulnerability.
Modular Design
Plasco Ltd, the Tanzanian licencee for the manufacture and distribution of Weholite HDPE system systems, has developed a solution that will solve all these problems.
CPS commissioned Plasco to design, manufacture and then install the tanks on the retail building’s rooftop, making the choice to use Weholite HDPE technology a perfect solution.
Weholite HDPE pipes can be customized to fit in any area and in this case, they could perfectly fit within the retail building’s limited space and not cross the 1.1 high bund wall that had been set, ensuring that the project’s aesthetics were maintained.
Weholite technology, when installed above ground, has a life expectancy of up to 60 year. This is far better than the traditional alternatives.
“Weholite was perfect for the project because Plasco was able to deliver within a short period which was key for the client. By using this technology, CPS met all the necessary environmental and sustainability requirements,” said Gulamhussein
The tank was designed at Dar es Salaam and manufactured in a matter of weeks. After being shipped to the Island, it was lifted into position and fusion welded before being pressure tested to assure the client. The installation took less than a week.
For its part Plasco says that Weholite’s design capabilities means that the system can be factory built, delivered, and installed in modular form and then assembled on site to store large volumes of freshwater. As demonstrated on this project, Weholite’s light nature means that it can be easily transported to remote areas.
“Weholite makes it possible to customize products which can then be easily transported and installed in areas that are difficult to access either because they are far or because doing so would disrupt livelihoods,” said Plasco CEO Ali Gulamhussein.
PlascoOther large volume Weholite freshwater storage tank tanks were also installed by the company, most recently in Dodoma Kigoma, Moshi and Kigoma. A 300m3 version was delivered in less than two weeks and commissioned.
Source: newbusinessethiopia
