Partnerships keep busy routes in top shape
T hree private sector companies manage and operate toll roads on some of the country’s busiest freeways. They concluded public-private partnerships with SANRAL for the construction, maintenance and operation of these routes over a 30-year period. The concession holders are responsible for raising capital for road construction, servicing the debt and funding all upgrades, rehabilitation, maintenance and operational costs. Toll revenue on these routes accrue to the concession holders. At the end of the concession period the roads are to be transferred back to SANRAL.
TRAC
Trans Africa Concessions (TRAC) – is responsible for the N4 eastward from Pretoria, through Mpumalanga to the Mozambican capital, Maputo.
In the past year TRAC awarded a R466m contract for lane additions to the N4 and the rehabilitation of the stretch between Belfast and Machadodorp. The upgrading of the road between Hectorspruit and Komatipoort was completed on time and within the contract value.
Contracts for road maintenance to the value of R35m were awarded to 12 small- and medium-sized enterprises. This created an average of 620 jobs per month – in South Africa and Mozambique.
TRAC is committed to improve road safety on its network. It conducted road safety awareness campaigns during peak travel periods at Easter and the December holidays and stepped up law enforcement services and incident response activities.
To create safer roads, the company installed cables along the median to prevent illegal U-turns at interchanges and provided emergency crossings at busy interchanges in Tshwane and Middelburg.
The company contributes to social development initiatives in the field of education and healthcare through its support for initiatives that provide training to early childhood development teachers, and healthcare workers in old age homes.
N3TC
Since 1999, the N3 freeway between Cedara in KwaZulu-Natal and Heidelberg in Gauteng is managed by the N3 Toll Concession (N3TC). The company recently awarded a new contract for the rehabilitation of the N3 from the Villiers Interchange to Dasville in the Free State. Major rehabilitation has also started on the KwaZulu-Natal side of the Drakensberg mountain range between Cedara and Mooi River.
More than 1 200 jobs were created in the past year in road repair, design, operations and route services. N3TC empowered small business through the allocation of contracts to the value of more than R140m.
The health and wellness of truck drivers on the major route is a major priority for N3TC. It offers eye tests at satellite clinics and sponsors the provision of spectacles. Through its Touching Lives development programme, it supports a range of projects in the fields of environment, tourism and enterprise development.
N3TC provides road safety education for learners and has taken the lead in initiatives to screen drivers – especially truck drivers – for drug and alcohol use. Its route control centre handled more than 90 000 calls in the past year and provided emergency assistance to 1 500 road users.
BAKWENA
Bakwena manages two major routes that are critical to the economy of South Africa’s northern provinces – the N1 between Pretoria and Bela Bela in Limpopo and the N4 going west from Pretoria to the Botswana border.
The company offers all its routine road maintenance contracts to SMMEs and has allocated more than R57m for this purpose in the 2017/18 financial year. Some 837 jobs were created in the unskilled and semi-skilled categories, as well as for managers and supervisors.
Bakwena participated in the Safe-to-School project for communities in the North West and cooperates with law enforcement agencies to ensure prompt responses to incidents, to ensure prompt responses to incidents, emergency services and the removal of debris from crash scenes.
It provides training in first aid and disaster management to teachers, learners and community members and supported healthcare initiatives that offers eye tests, hearing tests and screening for breast, prostate and testicular cancer.
A three-year contract to the value of R582m was awarded for the construction of a new carriageway on the N4 near Brits in the North West. This project will significantly increase the capacity and safety of a very busy stretch of road. In the past year, major upgrades to the N4 between Zeerust, Swartruggens and Groot Marico were completed, as well as the rehabilitation of the N1 between the Pumulani Toll Plaza and Hammanskraal.
BUILDING SOUTH AFRICA THROUGH BETTER ROADS
People's Guide 2018