SANRAL’s vision for a more inclusive and engaging road construction industry is the driver behind its commitment to developing emerging black contractors and creating platforms for them to thrive and flourish.

The agency also recognises that this will not happen on its own. It is encouraging to see the level of mentoring that happens with contractors and emerging subcontractors. In its quest to develop the country’s knowledge economy, SANRAL must play a key role in paving the way for skills transfer and knowledge sharing.

The bridge over the Orange River on the N12 just outside Hopetown is a massive project drawing on the expert knowledge of highly skilled and trained engineers.

Due to the magnitude of the project, it had a scope for contractor development and one such SMME owner who has drawn great benefit from his exposure to a national road construction project is Abraham Swartz of Hopetown.

“I had previously done some small maintenance contracts for the local municipality. I wanted to broaden my horizons and expand my knowledge and this project has done just that. We received extensive training, particularly on safety measures that need to be prioritised at all times. I hope that we will be given some certificates when the project is done, so that we can use these to access further developmental opportunities. I am also incredibly grateful that I was able to employ 10 residents from Hopetown, who through this project are able to feed 10 families. And as I grow, I hope to be able to employ more people going forward,” said Abraham.

Maria Mooketsi has been in the construction industry for over seven years. She has managed to tender for a contract on the upgrade of the three intersections just outside Kimberley to traffic circles. “Since December last year, I was responsible for cleaning sidewalks and culverts. The contractor saw our potential and gradually we were given more responsibilities and training. Today we focus on stormwater, gabions and culverts and thanks to Taupele Construction, we have been trained not only on how to do the work, but also how to cost our services, the importance of safety on site and how to stay in business,” said Maria, who is paving the way for other women to follow in her footsteps.

Road Incident
Management System
saves time and lives

The Northern Cape is the largest province in South Africa, taking up 30.5% of the total land area. It has 3 257km of national roads, 4 989km of provincial surfaced roads and 22 746km of provincial gravel roads.

When it comes to responding to any incident, whether big or small, time is of the essence. Detecting the incident, recording the details, deciding who to dispatch, waiting for the respondents to arrive on the scene, assessing the situation and applying the required remedy – these need to happen fast.

“Currently we work on an old-school pen system where the call is logged, and the operator tries to extract as much information from the caller before activating the necessary response teams. The new system that we are in the process of procuring is built on a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) model.

“With the new technology, the caller is identified via caller ID, the GPS coordinates pick up the location and the computer prompts the operator with relevant questions in order to make a full assessment of the situation. The relevant response teams are then dispatched and the system can even detect which vehicles are closest

to the incident and provide an estimated time of arrival, so that the operator can keep the caller informed every step of the way,” said Rossouw Dreyer, acting operational manager of the Northern Cape department of health, emergency medical services.

Few people think about what happens when the emergency response teams have left the scene and the situation stabilised. That is when SANRAL’s Routine Route Maintenance (RRM) teams kick in to clean up and get the road safe and ready for road users, particularly after it has been closed due to a crash. “We are the last cog in the wheel of response, and we make sure the road surface is cleared of all debris and safe for vehicles to drive on,” said Zandile Gaba, Route Manager in the Northern Cape.

The new technology is set to improve the way the Road Incident Management System is rolled out in the

Northern Cape and it is anticipated that the CAD system will be implemented by mid-2019. Getting help to those who need it most is a key priority in SANRAL’s approach to road safety and response management – embracing technology that will take a good system to being great.

BUILDING SOUTH AFRICA THROUGH BETTER ROADS

HELLO NORTHERN CAPE 2018