Routine Road Maintenance projects are well underway in Gauteng’s metropolitan areas

The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) has announced the progress made on Routine Road Maintenance (RRM) projects across Gauteng’s three metropolitan areas of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane. SANRAL has appointed Ndodana/Oarona Joint Venture as the consulting engineers as well as VEA Road Maintenance and Civils (Pty) Ltd (VEA) as the main contractor across all three metros, and the tenders for sub-contractors will be put out within the next six months.

This work follows several Taking SANRAL to the People stakeholder engagement sessions that SANRAL hosted in the Gauteng Province during 2020. These engagements were targeted at the local small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) as well as local communities to showcase available opportunities  on  upcoming SANRAL projects and how they can get involved.

SANRAL often uses the Taking SANRAL to the People sessions as an opportunity to interact with key stakeholders affected by its projects and forge partnerships with them as part of ongoing efforts to improve their socio-economic conditions. Through this programme, SANRAL shares information about its continuing role in infrastructure development, job creation and skills development initiatives, as well as engaging in dialogue on issues of mutual interest with these stakeholders.

SANRAL has four RRM contracts within the Gauteng Province; three of these started in December 2020 and the fourth one in November 2020 and runs for a period of 36 months until 31 October 2023 and 30 November 2023 respectively, thereafter new routine maintenance contracts will be put in place,” explains Oakley van Eyk, SANRAL’s Project Manager for routine road maintenance within Gauteng.

VEA will be responsible for developing and issuing the tender packages that will be made available to sub-contracting opportunities where local SMMEs can submit their business profiles for consideration. Currently, it is anticipated that there will be approximately 18 to 22 sub-contractor packages that will be put out to tender per contract.

During the period of the contract, various training programmes by accredited trainers will be done with the sub-contractors. An appointed mentor will be available on-site to assist sub-contractors and keep a record of performance. “SANRAL wants to improve the sub-contractor’s performance, offer skills transfer and make sub-contractors more equipped and profitable to grow their profile as entrepreneurs during this process,” says Van Eyk.

The first contract is in the Tshwane Metropolitan area. The total road network in Tshwane is approximately 185km and will include National Routes N4 Sections 1, 11 and 12; N1 section 21. Routine road maintenance will also be made to R21 section 2, R104 section 1 and 2 as well as the R573 section 1 which is commonly known as Moloto Road.

The second contract is in the Johannesburg metropolitan area and will see the following National Routes undergo maintenance work: N1 sections 19 and 20, N3 section 12, N12 section 18 and the N17 sections 1 and 2. Bringing the total road network to approximately 110km.

The third contract falls under the Ekurhuleni metropolitan area and has a total of approximately 215km road network that is being maintained by SANRAL. National routes that are currently being worked on include the R21 sections 1 and 2, N12 sections 18 and 19, N3 sections 11 and 12 as well as the N17 section 2.

The fourth contract falls under the Merafong Municipality within the West Rand District Municipality and has approximately 151.3 km of road network that is being maintained by SANRAL. National routes that are currently being worked on include the N12 Section 17, R500 Section 1, R54 Section 1, R501 Section 3, and N14 Section 13.