Beneficiaries in 10 Wards in the Bushbuckridge Municipality benefited from the collaboration between Buscor, a leading passenger bus company that operates predominantly in the Lowveld region of the Mpumalanga Province and Technicrete, a manufacturer of concrete products, to assist in the construction of ten houses for the local community.

Technicrete donated 10,000 Double Roman high quality roof tiles as well as 160,000 discounted Technicrete stock bricks. Buscor, under the Chairmanship of Mrs Nora Fakude gave R2 million towards the project as well as garnering contributions from local builders and suppliers in the region.

The project, which fell within the Special Project Portfolio of Mr David Mabuza, Premier of Mpumulanga, was designed to assist some of those living in this region where poverty is prevalent and the supply of housing is desperately needed. In some cases, beneficiaries of these new houses - most of which were elderly - had been living in an environment of squalor.

Access to the construction site proved difficult due to lack of roads and utilities, but local hardware store Laduma assisted in collecting and delivering bulk stock from the Technicrete factory to a centralised depot for ongoing distribution. Technicrete supplied discounted materials with a certain amount of stock supplied for free, which enabled the overall price per house to be reduced.

Technicrete chose the Double Roman roof tiles due to their suitability for the houses being built. The roof tiles area cost effective choice and is aesthetically pleasing tile. The stock bricks guarantee good durability, strength, thermal insulation, longevity as well as being fire resistant. Approximately 1,000 tiles and 80 ridges were used per house. The Double Roman roof tiles come in a variety of antique or smooth colours.

Technicrete has an active social responsibility programme that assist with projects that can utilise their concrete products and technologies. For the Bushbuckridge residents who received these ten houses, it was a dream of a lifetime to be able to house their families in a house that was stable and built with good quality materials.

Rocla