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Entura boosts dams engineering capability with new appointments
1 July, 2016
Specialist power and water consulting firm Entura has welcomed two new senior dams engineering specialists to its internationally renowned team.
Marius Jonker and Al Ahmed-Zeki joined the firm as Specialist Dams Engineers, based at Entura’s offices in Melbourne, Victoria and Hobart, Tasmania, respectively.
“We’re pleased to welcome Marius and Al to the team,” said Angus Swindon, Power and Water Director at Entura. “Both bring a wealth of experience to the firm and I’m confident they will add tremendous value to our clients’ projects across Australia and the Asia-pacific region.”
Marius Jonker
Marius brings to Entura over 25 years’ experience gained as in-house engineer and as technical consultant for dam projects in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Swaziland.
His experience spans planning, investigation, design, analysis and construction of dams, project and design management through to decommissioning studies. He has also worked on dam safety projects including managing dam safety programs, safety reviews, individual dam and portfolio risk assessments, safety inspections, instrumentation monitoring, surveillance, operation and maintenance, and dam safety emergency planning.
“I’m delighted to join Entura and am looking forward to partnering with clients and the broader team,” said Marius. “Entura has an impressive track-record on dams engineering, drawing on more than 100 years of experience of planning, building, managing and maintaining the many dams of Tasmania’s hydropower system, due to its connection with Hydro Tasmania, so it is very exciting.”
Before joining Entura, Marius was Principal Dams Engineer and Dams Service Group Manager for Victoria and South Australia at engineering firm GHD. Prior to that, he worked at BKS Pty Ltd (now AECOM) in South Africa as Divisional Director (Dams and Hydropower), and held several other consulting and in-house dams engineering roles.
Marius has a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) and a Masters of Engineering (Civil) from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He has authored several papers on dams engineering and lectured on a number of dams engineering-related topics at workshops and seminars. He is also a technical peer reviewer for the international publication Dam Engineering.
As a member of the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD), Marius is involved with a number of activities, including the development of several industry guidelines. He is also a member of the South African National Committee on Large Dams and the USA Association of State Dams Safety Officials.
Al Ahmed-Zeki
Al has over 30 years’ experience as a geotechnical engineer specialising in dams. He has worked on projects in Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
His experience comprises dam site investigations, analysis, design, peer reviews, instrumentation and safety and risk assessments. He specialises in the investigation and design of projects of significant geotechnical nature, including ground retention, land reclamation, civil and mine infrastructure, as well as investigations for slope stability and stabilisation. He also has a special interest in geotechnical distress analysis, as part of assessing asset condition, and developing solutions for remediation.
Before joining Entura, Al held several senior dams and geotechnical engineering roles, including Principal Engineer, Geotechnical, at GHD and Senior Geotechnical Engineer at Coffey International Ltd (now TETRATECH). He also had a two-year stint at Entura in the early 2000s as Senior Dams Engineer.
“It’s a pleasure to be back at Entura during a very exciting time for the firm,” said Al. “I’m looking forward to working with our clients to deliver practical and commercially sound advice relating to their civil and dam assets and develop innovative solutions for a range of geotechnical problems.”
Al has a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from the University of Baghdad, Iraq and a Masters of Engineering (Geotechnical) from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has authored several papers on dams engineering and geotechnics, and regularly undertakes reviews of draft papers submitted for possible publication in the Journal of Geotechnical and Geological Engineering (Springer).
As part of Hydro Tasmania, Australia’s largest renewable energy producer and water manager, Entura is backed by more than 100 years of creating energy and maintaining power and water assets.
The firm works with clients to deliver practical and commercially sound solutions across the whole lifecycle of power and water assets, helping them to manage risks and achieve valuable outcomes.
