Treasury has allocated about R21.5-billion per year for the maintenance and improvement of SANRAL’s 19 262km non-toll network.   

Major road construction tenders to the value of more than R40-billion will be issued by the South African National Roads Agency (SOC) Limited (SANRAL) to the construction sector over the next two to three years. 

“We expect a surge in road construction projects over the medium-term framework as part of the broader national efforts to invest in economic infrastructure,” said Louw Kannemeyer, the roads agency’s Engineering Executive. 

“We are confident that this investment will help to boost the construction sector which has been under severe pressure in recent years, and also cascade down to black-owned and emerging enterprises, who will receive much larger shares of tenders in future.” 

Treasury has allocated about R21.5-billion per year for the maintenance and improvement of SANRAL’s 19 262km non-toll network.  

Projects 

This will go towards a total of 940 projects, of which 325 are already under construction. 

Kannemeyer said the new projects will include some 90 major capital works projects larger than R500-million each, which will go out to tender during the three-year medium-term period. 

Tenders to the value of R8.3-billion for construction work on the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg will go out to tender during the current financial year.  

This is financed through the infrastructure stimulus package announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018. 

This will include seven major tenders on the N3, which will be issued within the next three months once the regulatory approvals have been received and land acquisition finalised. 

Tenders 

Starting in August, SANRAL will issue smaller tenders related to routine road maintenance and periodic maintenance across the entire SANRAL network and in all nine provinces.  

The more than 50 tenders will be released in a controlled manner so as not to flood the market. 

“The projects will provide economic and social infrastructure that has the potential to unlock economic growth, stimulate local economies and create jobs within the communities located close to the construction activities,” said Kannemeyer. 

The SANRAL network forms the backbone of the country’s transport system and serves as a catalyst for balanced economic growth, business confidence, investment and the transformation of society. 

Kannemeyer says a growing share of contracts will be allocated to black-owned construction companies and enterprises owned by women, the youth and the disabled.  

In its long-term strategy, Horizon 2030, SANRAL committed itself to the transformation of the construction and engineering sectors through the allocation of tenders to new entrants in these sectors. 

Over the past six months SANRAL has brokered memorandums of understanding between emerging companies and major suppliers of construction equipment and machinery.  

These partnerships give black-owned companies greater access to financing, expertise and the sophisticated equipment required to tender for larger contracts. 

“We are confident that the R40-billion in tenders that are in the pipeline will benefit the broader construction sector and contribute to the growth of new enterprises who have been excluded from major contracts in the past,” said Kannemeyer.