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The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) will invest more than R90 million on a road infrastructure project in the Xhariep District Municipality in the Free State Province. 

Addressing the local business community of Trompsburg, James Takalo, SANRAL Eastern Region’s transformation officer, says this investment – which will include the upgrading of existing unsurfaced roads to surfaced roads from Springfontein to Trompsburg – will provide much-needed job opportunities for local communities. The project is in the Mohokare and Kopanong local municipalities, which fall under the Xhariep District. 

“The project is divided into two packages. Package One, which is valued at R 45 011 527, starts at section 13 from Springfontein South to Section 14 Springfontein North, while Package Two, which is valued at R 45 100 000, will begin at section 14 from Springfontein North to Trompsburg .

Each package has a community development budget of R3 million that will go towards community development projects to be identified by the community. 

“The Contract Participation Goal (CPG) plan has been acknowledged by the project liaison committee (PLC) members and work is ready to start. We are excited at the economic prospect that this will bring, particularly as the road construction industry begins to recover from the onslaught of Covid-19,” said Takalo.

“Working together with local community structures in municipalities, PLCs are established to ensure better communication and transparency on SANRAL projects, as well as ensuring that work done on projects is done seamlessly,” said Monageng Mokgojwa, SANRAL Eastern Region’s stakeholder coordinator.

Consultants for both work packages and other industry players also attended and explained their role and shared the scope of the work with the local business community. 

“Our aim is to ensure that the previously marginalised sectors of our economy – including women, young people, people with disabilities and black contractors – play a meaningful role and succeed in a construction industry that has largely been non-transformative. We will continue to do this guided by our transformation policy and our Horizon 2030 strategy. 

“Our transformation policy sets clearly defined targets for black contractors, professionals and suppliers to participate in all of our commissioned projects. As SANRAL we also continue to be mindful of the impact that our procurement policy and practices have on the socio-economic conditions of South Africans in general and the transformation of the construction industry,” said Takalo. 

The SANRAL Eastern Region also has a supplier development desk that assists SMMEs with information about tender opportunities that the road agency offers. The help desk also provides information as well as assistance with registration on the central supplier database (CSD), the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and training opportunities that may arise.

Issued by SANRAL