The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) will invest R50 billion in critical road infrastructure for its Northern Region. Picture: Supplied
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) will invest R50 billion in critical road infrastructure for its Northern Region.
The agency CEO Reginald Demana, said this will be done through new tenders.
According to Demana, R15bn worth of contracts have been awarded since April 1, which marked the beginning of the current financial year.
“I am happy to announce that we are currently evaluating 96 tenders worth R35bn, while 86 contracts worth R15bn have already been awarded since the start of the 2024/25 financial year on April 1, 2024,” he said.
Demana said the tenders currently under evaluation were spread across the country, but the majority falls under the Northern Region which comprises of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West.
Sanral’s Northern Region manages about 9 500km of the national road network, making it the agency’s largest region.
Sanral Northern Regional Manager, Progress Hlahla, said 34 tenders worth R16.5bn were earmarked for the region and would have a major impact on the economy.
“These are exciting times for the industry, this investment means more opportunities for local businesses and jobs for our people. In line with the CEO’s announcement, we have ensured that we fast-track the roll-out of work packages for critical projects in the region,” Hlahla said.
He said the agency had recently awarded a R893 million contract for construction of an 11.7km stretch of the R573 project in Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, as part of the multibillion-rand development of the Moloto Road Corridor.
The agency said this was an investment of R227m for improvement of 5.8km stretch of road.
“A total 8% of the contract value will be spent on targeted labour from the Musina area, while 30% would be spent on targeted enterprises which have at least 51% black ownership. In May, the roads agency introduced four community development projects worth R787m in Limpopo.
“The following projects were introduced to traditional leadership, road forums, taxi and bus associations, and communities in the affected areas:
– The R144m D2919 road, which spans from Tshikanoshi to Malebitsa, Sekhukhune District Municipality.
– The R132m D3878 road, which connects Calais to Ga-Sekororo, Mopani District Municipality.
– The R251m D3187 road, which stretches from Mageva to Makhuva in the Mopani District Municipality.
– The R260m D3810 road, which stretches from Thomo to Hlomela in the Mopani District Municipality.
“The first packages on the project are currently under way with some local companies subcontracted for ancillary works,” the agency said.
Hlahla said these projects would have a significant impact on the socio-economic landscape of the country.
He said more projects were still in the pipeline for the 2024/2025 financial year and those would go a long way to boost the local economy.
“Some of the major projects in the Northern region include the N4 in Pretoria CBD, N1 Musina Ring Road, R37 in Burgersfort, the R573 Moloto Road Development Corridor which spans across three provinces (Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo), R510 towards Thabazimbi, R504 in Wolmaransstad, and the N2 from Ermelo to the KwaZulu-Natal border.
“In North West, Sanral has also started with a R1.3bn construction project on the R52 between Koster and Rustenburg.
“Additionally, the resurfacing of the R512 between from R104 intersection to Brits is progressing well. The R504 Between Wolmaransstad and Leeudoringstad has been completed and the portion from Leeudoringstad to the Free state border is currently under construction.”
The agency said the investment was over R400m and has created over 500 job opportunities for local labour.
The Star
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