Consulting engineering firm Bigen Africa has appointed Pieter van Niekerk as head of its roads and transport business unit. "I am pleased to announce this appointment, as it is in line with our strategy of expanding our services into Africa with a specific focus on creating centres of excellence in the areas of mining, energy and roads," says Or Snowy Khoza, CEO.

Pieter is a professional civil engineer with more than 26 years of experience in various engineering disciplines. He joins Bigen Africa from SSI Engineers and Environmental Consultants, where he was chief operating officer responsible for all production units and the co-ordination of the firm"s six technical sectors - transport, water, environmental engineering, energy and resources, buildings and structures and project and construction management. Prior to his appointment as COO, Pieter was the Transport Sector Group Manager in SSI for four years.

He has worked in several countries in Africa, the United Kingdom and the Middle East, specialising in highways, pavements and the use of local and naturally available materials for projects. He obtained an Engineering Masters degree in pavement engineering (cum laude) and his experience includes several pavement design and rehabilitation projects in Libya, Somalia, Uganda, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Dubai, South Africa, Botswana and Pakistan.

Pavement projects included the determination of structural capacities and strengthening evaluation of airport and road pavements using conventional testing methods, non-destructive testing (FWD and DCP), mechanistic and general rehabilitation design and analysis techniques. Airport projects included assessment of pavement strength for the Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Waterkloof, Springs, Langebaan, Windhoek and Walvis Bay airports and the non-destructive evaluation of the nine (9) major airports in Mozambique.

"Pieter is suitably experienced and skilled to lead our expansion into the roads sector, both in South Africa and other African countries. This will enable us to continue to pursue our smarter business approach of integrating .best-of-breed" road engineering expertise with strategic and master planning, feasibility studies, project finance and cost recovery and the facilitation of institutional and stakeholder support," says Khoza.

"Pieter"s international experience includes working in several African countries, including Mozambique. In Mozambique, for a period of seven years, he was involved in the procurement and review of consultancy services, such as feasibility studies, detailed engineering designs and construction monitoring. In procurement, his work included preparing packages, terms of references and contracts for major donors and government tenders, including liaison with funding agencies such as USAID, the International Development Agency, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the French Development Agency, the Swedish International Development Agency and the European Union."

Pieter is a member of the Engineering Council of South Africa, the South African Institution of Civil Engineering and a board member of the Annual Transportation Conference South Africa, Civilab soil-testing laboratories and Consulting Engineers South Africa. Pieter says: "Big en Africa has a proven track record for successfully delivering large projects on time, within speCification and within budget. I look forward to assisting the company in increasing its involvement in large and complex roads and transport infrastructure projects in Africa. These projects are critical to sustainable development because of their multiplier effect on the economy. I share the company's obsession with the impact these projects have in addressing the needs of the community by creating job opportunities and an environment in which people can live, work and play in safety and comfort."