S ANRAL hosted engineers from several countries across the globe, at the World Road Association (Piarc) conference on Road Tunnel Operations in Low and Medium Income Countries, which was held at the V&A Waterfront from 18-20 October.
The event was formally opened by SANRAL CEO Skumbuzo Macozoma, also a registered civil engineer, who had this to say in his opening remarks: “At a time when the world is undergoing rapid changes brought on by new – and sometimes disruptive – technologies, it is
important for 21st century organisations such as SANRAL to embrace change and continuously adapt our strategies to remain at the leading edge of trends in the management of vital economic infrastructure.”
Delegates engaged with riveting
presentations of new technological breakthroughs in civil engineering around the safe design and operation of road tunnels. The South African team led with a presentation on the Huguenot Tunnel, with a focus on operations, maintenance and planned upgrades.
Day two was spent on a site visit to the Huguenot Tunnel – in particular the operations control centre and the North Bore. This tunnel constitutes a major transport link between the coastal plains of the Western Cape and the interior and is one of the most strategic infrastructure assets of the national road network in South Africa. The 3.917km-long tunnel reduces the distance between Paarl and Worcester by 11km and eliminates a climb of about 500m over the Du Toitskloof Pass, which by its nature imposes severe constraints and safety concerns on the road user.
The technical site visit provided great context for reflection on previous plenary sessions, as well as insight for paving the way forward in planning much-needed upgrades, both structural and technological.
The conference concluded with a focus on sustainable funding for safe tunnels, tunnel construction choices and in particular, case studies based on the Huguenot Tunnel and the Gautrain. Drawing on experience, insight and technical expertise from countries where road tunnels are far superior in design, capacity and technology, the way was paved for SANRAL to take the next step in road tunnel engineering, as the Huguenot Tunnel and its imminent upgrades remains a priority.
D uring the July school holidays, SANRAL hosted 34 academically deserving youth from various schools in Nelson Mandela Bay at the annual bridge-building competition in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.
The learners, who all form part of the Unity in Africa Foundation’s Incubating Young Minds, are in Grades 11 and 12.
Based on the format and rules on the South African Institution of Civil Engineering’s (Saice’s) bridge-building competition, this competition allowed learners to explore their creativity, teamwork and future engineering skills.
Litha Nohashe from Motherwell, who attends Woolhope High School, said: “Civil engineering is interesting and I strongly recommend it to those who think it is boring. The bridge-building competition surprised me, because I am not a creative person. The event opened my eyes in terms of understanding the way I do things.
“I believe engineers are the ones responsible for development and making
sure we keep with the times. Everything revolves around engineering if you think about it. We are the people that make everyone’s lives easier,” he said.
Excited Sonwabiso Nyanga of Newton Technical High School, said the bridge- building competition opened his eyes to what engineering as a career can offer. “For me, the event was an eye opener, because I was not sure which career to choose. I enjoyed the practical work on the bridges. It allowed me to actually see what goes in when building and what materials you have to take into account.” SANRAL Southern Region Manager Mbulelo Peterson said: “Engineering is a high-level scarce skill in the country. If we don’t invest in creating talent pipelines from high-school and university for the future, we face the risk of not having engineers to build and maintain South Africa’s national road network.” The bridges were judged on aesthetics, weight and structural strength in the showdown among the 10 teams who participated.
