"Unless you try to do something beyond that which you have already
mastered,
you will never grow"
1st April 1998 saw the launch of the new South African National Roads Agency. This moment signalled a paradigm shift for the roads fraternity in South Africa, setting exciting new challenges for the governance and delivery of road infrastructure. With our transition to the status of an independent, commercially run entity we can now fully embrace the principles of transparency, accountability and performance orientation in our dealings with all associated stakeholders in our industry.
In the past year, we have reached financial closure on the Maputo Corridor. We have embarked upon the concessioning of the N3 to the private sector, and will continue our Platinum Road project to link the Botswana Trans-Kalahari Road to Maputo, so completing the East-West road link across the continent of Africa. In so doing, we have broadened our horizons, gained a wealth of new experience and equipped ourselves to move South Africa's road transport infrastructure into the future. These three visionary initiatives will stand as the last great milestone in the history of the South African Roads Board, providing a fitting climax to its years of unstinting service.
With so many road and transport engineering achievements in the history of the Board and the Department behind us - and as much as we shall continue to be led by the Minister's direction, vision and goals - it is with the sense of a certain "unbearable lightness of being" that we realise we are no longer a part of its daily heartbeat and familiar surrounds.
Sensitive to the needs of the Nation, and within our financial capacity, we will provide and manage a sustainable National Road Network which reduces the cost of road transport and promotes economic growth and the quality of life.
Directly, and with our partners, we will -
The words of CJ Wells, "that which we lose, we mourn, yet must rejoice that which we ever had", encapsulate for me the professional and personal growth the Department afforded the members of this Chief Directorate. To have been part of its ethos, facing the challenges of transformation and welding its diverse components together, was a privilege and a schooling which has not only enhanced and strengthened our knowledge but will also serve us well as we move into the commercial environment within which we will expand and grow our roads network.
I wish wholeheartedly to thank each and every one of my colleagues, all of whom have shown dedication towards achieving our aims and goals, while giving support to our transformation processes. To those who have joined out-sourcing organisations, and those who have left us in the process of transformation, I wish bright and happy futures.
We leave behind us a highly successful final year under the watchful eye of the Department's fish eagle. Our new entity, hatched from old experience and dramatic recent achievement, will spend but a short time in the nest before taking wing towards new heights of excellence in all its endeavours.
Nazir Alli
Chief Director
During the year under review the Directorate completed its business area analysis and commenced with the development of user requirement statements for management systems in connection with road signs, construction, consultants, maintenance and slopes.
The business area analysis also led to a decision being taken by the South African Roads Board to invest in a geographic information system (GIS), which would serve as the interface between the users of the system and the large database which would be developed to provide the Chief Directorate with powerful management decision support. Coupled to this initiative, was also a decision taken by the Board to revise its pavement and bridge management systems in order to bring them up to date with modern technology and management techniques.
The coming year's programme of work will focus on the finalisation of the system design, and its installation in the National Roads Agency. Concentrated effort will then be put into developing the various management systems still outstanding. The system will be used to optimise the Agency's funding and implementation strategies, and will serve as one of the sources of information for the making of broader strategic planning decisions.
The Comprehensive Traffic Observations Sub-directorate continued with its routine traffic surveys and toll traffic auditing functions, also dealing with many requests for data from other governmental institutions and the private sector. In the latter part of the year, considerable effort was put into identifying a suitable private sector organisation to take over the entire sub-directorate's staff, equipment and work under an out-sourcing agreement with the new National Roads Agency.
The organisation selected was Mikros Traffic Monitoring (Pty) Limited, with whom a contract for a period of two years was successfully negotiated. The transfer of the functions of the sub-directorate to Mikros took place at the end of the financial year and operations under the new agreement commenced on 1 April 1998.
It became evident in the early part of the year that the objectives, focus areas and priorities of the new Government implied changed priorities for the future, and that the former primary road network identified in the early nineties could not meet the vision for the transport needs of the country. The imminent creation of the Agency, with the prospect of taking over more provincial and other routes as Primary Roads, also became an important issue, especially since certain provinces had requested the Board to take over roads which the provinces believed were of national importance.
As a result, the Board resolved to undertake a strategic network study with the aim of producing a phased approach to the expansion of the national road network. This would involve the definition of a logical primary road network - to be managed in line with a clear vision of its short and long term goals - and would inform the Agency as to where its priorities should lie for the following few years. This work is well in progress and will be finished in the next financial year. As part of strategic planning, the development, implementation and monitoring of Incident Management Systems is also under way. Taking a lead from the high priority given to the issue in the White Paper, the Board resolved to provide incident management cover to the entire National Road Network. From a humble start with only twelve systems in place nationally at the beginning of the year, exceptionally good progress has been made with the implementation of a further nine systems, and it is hoped that all thirty-seven systems will be implemented by late 1998/99.
The directorate was involved in the Roads Coordinating Committee Sub-committee meetings and workshops related to the revision of the TRH17 design manual and the compilation of the set of documents for planning, design and construction of roads in the SADC countries. Work began on the revision of the Code of Procedure for the Planning and Design of Structures. Roads was also represented on the committee working on the SABS 1806: 199X specification dealing with structural bearings. This document is nearing completion.
Regular meetings were held with Provincial and Local authorities to discuss traffic matters and proposed road networks of mutual interest. Standards for National Roads and other roads are discussed at these meetings.
A guideline policy document was drawn up for the implementation of lighting on National Roads, while the policy guideline for rest and service areas has also been under review.
During the year a number of geometric and structural design projects were undertaken, together with traffic impact studies relating to major developments. All have proceeded well.
A decision was taken to modernise the Bridge Management System. Although the software will only be installed in the 1998/99 financial year, a number of contracts were let for the collection of bridge inspection data. By the time the necessary data is available, the software will have been installed and the system will be ready for use.
The drawing office concentrated its efforts on producing the Southern African Development Community Road Traffic Signs Manual as well as on revising the South African version of the document.
Drafting work included the production of plans for the work undertaken by the in-house design team, as well as many presentation slides and publications.
Detail survey work was done for the N4 Maputo Corridor project in order to be able to proclaim the road reserve on the basis of co-ordinates. Details of access roads, services and roadside stalls were also surveyed. Major survey work was also done for the N3 BOT Project.
At the end of the financial year, the out-sourcing of the survey section was successfully negotiated. This was done by asking established survey companies to tender to form a management company to take over the survey equipment and to manage the surveyors over a period of 24 months. During this period, the National Roads Agency will guarantee an agreed flow of work to this company, in order to ensure that the staff leaving the Department are given adequate opportunity to establish themselves as a business in their own right.
The function of this Sub-directorate is to acquire all land required for, or as a result of, the construction of national roads, and to identify all SARB-owned land for registration in its name. The activities of the Sub-directorate all relate to the expropriation, valuation, designation and registration of required land, and to maintaining the records of the SARB's land portfolio. The following specific goals were set for the report year:
In spite of the fact that certain projects allowed very limited time for land acquisition between the issuing of the contracts and the establishment of contractors on the relevant sites, the goals above were largely met. No construction project was ever delayed as a result of the non-acquisition of required land.
The Division Identification of Land appointed Intersite to identify all SARB land appropriated by the former Provincial Administrations for which compensation was paid for from the NRF. During the year 1713 properties on national routes N12 and N4 were identified. 1130 of these were designated by the Minister for transfer into the name of the SARB. All relevant data on the (approximately 10 000) properties registered in the name of the SARB have been captured in the Land Assets Register, and the register has been updated to reflect data on the land identified during the current year. The volume of transactions relating to the transfer of acquired or alienated land was also substantially higher than previous years.
The function of the Sub-directorate Estate Control and Support Service is to manage and control all real estate owned by the SARB and to provide a support service to the Chief Directorate. The activities of the Division Estate Control all relate to the administration of SARB-owned land. This work includes maintenance, legal administration, granting of servitudes, and leasing or disposal of real estate. All acivities were well performed.
The division was responsible for procurement, statutory control, claims by and against the Board, provision of a secretariat service to the Board and various committees and rendering of registry, messenger, and graphic design and reproduction services.
Specific goals for the report year were:
The database was designed and the relevant data entered. Investigation into the out-sourcing of the functions of the two Sub-directorates was successfully concluded, with the SARB approving the appointment of Intersite Property Management Services to take over these functions on behalf of the Board from 1 April 1998. Seventeen staff members where also taken over by Intersite as part of agreement.
During the year the SARB approved the development of an integrated Geographic Information Management System (GIS) to update and consolidate the existing management systems. When fully deployed, the system will provide management information to a decentralised Roads Agency on all aspects of the Agency's work. Good progress has been made with the design phase of the system during this financial year. The development of the relevant subsystems, gathering of geographical information, and implementation will continue in the coming financial year, and the project as a whole is expected to be fully implemented by the end of the 1998/99 financial year. Full implementation of a LAN-based GAAP accounting system was also undertaken.
Progress for the year can be summarised as follows:
Private sector involvement in routine road maintenance became a reality with the letting of 26 contracts on National Roads throughout the country. National Road Network maintenance is fully covered by the private sector, with the exception of Western and Eastern Cape roads. Privatisation of these sections' maintenance will be completed in 1998/99.
These contracts have opened a new field for the development of emerging entrepreneurs, and the contract documentation is specifically structured to promote this principle.
Nine contracts were let for the maintenance and repair of roads and bridges, to a total value of R143 million.
Product Performance Guarantee Specifications, whereby the Employer secures a guarantee from the Contractor in respect of the quality, performance and life of a product (such as asphalt), was introduced in the previous year. During 1997/98 a further two contracts were let where a PPG Specification was included.
Five new contracts were let during the financial year, to a total value of R144 million.
Good progress was made on the two large contracts started last year: the N1 (Matoks to Louis Trichardt) contract valued at R98 million, and the N4 (Scientia to Pienaar'sRiver) contract, valued at R65 million.
The only major construction contract let during the review year was the second contract of the Durban Southern Gateway Phase 1 project (R144 million). The first contract for the project was concluded in 1996/97and work continued on it throughout the current year, with satisfactory progress being achieved. Good progress was also made on the ongoing N2 South Coast Toll Highway contracts.
The Department was particularly pleased to announce the start of roadworks on the N4 Maputo Development Corridor project.project.
The N3 concession project has reached tender evaluation stage, while the N4 Platinum Route project has progressed according to plan to the stage where tenders will be submitted in May 1998.
Work on the Lebombo SDI commenced during the financial year, with the letting of the contract for the construction of the MR439 Hluhluwe to Lower Mkhuze road project (R60 million). Work has progressed satisfactorily.
Work also started on the P17-5 Bushbuck Ridge to Hazyview road improvement project (R31,4 million) on the N4 Maputo sub-corridor, and has shown satisfactory progress.
During the year under review various materials and pavement design projects aimed at maintaining and improving the National Road Network were managed. Some of these were new projects, while others were concerned with periodic and special maintenance, rehabilitation and upgrading.
20 Projects which were already in the detail design and/or documentation stages were seen through to the construction phase. A further 20 projects commissioned in 1996/97 were launched and are either in the design phase or already under construction.
The Chief Directorate maintained its policy of appointing emerging consulting engineering firms. A considerable number of these firms were appointed, either in joint ventures or on their own.
The revision of TRH4 and TRH12 documents was completed. Draft revised documents were produced, published and discussed at an open workshop with representatives of government organisations, consultants, contractors and other role-players. These revisions were necessary as the documents were six or more years old and significant changes in traffic loading, material specifications and rehabilitation methods have taken place over the last few years.
Significant progress in the implementation of management systems has been achieved during the period under review. During this period the new Pavement Management System was successfully implemented, and work on the transfer of historic data to the new system began.
Work on the implementation of the new Bridge Management System was also initiated, with a 3-day training course for 42 prospective bridge inspectors. The current team of bridge inspectors will be collecting the data required by the new Bridge Management System and this will be entered onto the system once the software has been installed. This will take place during the 1998/99 financial year.
The conceptual designs for both the Maintenance Management System and the Slope Management System were completed during the year. These systems will also come on stream in 1998/99.
Work has begun on the new Integrated Transportation Information System, which aims to provide a finely-tuned life cycle management system to address all facets of our work, from initial road design through construction to maintenance of the entire road network.
Quality control systems for more than 40 projects were initiated and audited. Work included:
On one of these projects a riding quality penalty system for asphalt surfacing was initiated after a pilot study and a trial section. The evaluation of this system is currently in progress.
Revision of the TRH3 document was completed and the document has been published. Its aim is to produce a single rational design method for polymer modified binders and bituminous surfacing seals to address higher traffic loading. It is expected that the revised design procedure will enable practitioners to design surface seals more adequate to the strains imposed on our pavement surfaces by ever-increasing traffic volumes and heavy loading.
Materials testing and evaluation was performed for those projects in the design as well as the construction phases, including the implementation of improved technological equipment for the design of asphaltic layers for road pavements. A full materials investigation for an in-house design project was also completed.
The laboratory also continued to participate in the AASHTO testing proficiency programme until its closure in January 1998.
The objective of this programme, which is jointly funded by the Board and the American Federal Highway Administration, is to transfer skills, develop technical and engineering expertise, and to exchange technology and information between our two countries. It is an important feature of the work undertaken in communities that the skills taught should be taken back into the communities and put to use in upliftment projects. The development of small, medium and micro enterprises is an equally important goal.
Twenty-four programmes were undertaken during the financial year, some of which will only be completed in future financial years. These included: special tuition of students, distribution of training manuals and publications, commercialisation of road work teams and the teaching of skills like brick making. Two previously disadvantaged students were sent to the USA to read for their Masters Degrees.
Special research projects are also undertaken in order to supplement the knowledge and skills of engineers, both in the USA and South Africa.
All programmes progressed well during the financial year, although it is expected that a measure of underspending on the approved budget will occur.
These functions entail the activities of planning new toll roads, budgeting and control of toll income and expenditure, letting and monitoring of toll operations, routine road maintenance contracts and the promotion of the user-pay principle.
The Toll Road Network is currently approximately 860 kilometres in length, serviced by 17 mainline plazas and 7 remote ramp plazas.
In view of the general shortage of funds for roads, and also as part of the promotion of the user-pays principle, several toll road feasibility studies were commissioned during the past year:
The N2 between Gillooly's and Morehill
The feasibility reports are currently being assessed, and final decisions on suitability for tolling will be made during the 1998/99 financial year.
Financial Closure was reached on the concessioning of the N4 Maputo Toll Road, and construction commenced in January 1998. This landmark achievement heralds a new era in public-private partnerships and will be the forerunner to much needed redevelopment in Mozambique and a dynamic expansion of our own economy, particularly in Gauteng, Northern Province and Mpumalanga.
Tenders for the N3 Toll Road between Heidelberg and Cedara closed during December 1997. This large-scale project will lead to major improvement of the substandard road between Villiers and Heidelberg and - in a future phase of the project - replacement of the notorious van Reenen's Pass by a new route through the Drakensberg, to be known as de Beer's Pass. It is expected that the concession contract will be signed and financial closure will be reached during the 1998/99 financial year.
In addition to the Maputo and N3 projects, a tender for the Platinum Toll Highway (380 kilometres) between Pretoria and the Botswana Border was called for in October 1997. Tenders for this Concession Project close on 29 May 1998.
The Minister, on the recommendation of the South African Roads Board, approved a uniform discount system for heavy vehicles, replacing various existing discount systems and ensuring enhanced operating efficiencies and reduced administration.
SOS maintenance contracts were revised, as the excessive expenditure on repairing damage from vandalism and theft could no longer be warranted. Cellular technology was investigated as an alternative and it is envisaged that this technology will be implemented during 1998.
The Board approved a number of projects during the year, mainly concerned with the maintenance and upgrading of existing plazas. These were:
Promotional exercises included direct marketing through brochures and pamphlets as well as media releases and media interviews. The theme of the marketing campaign was "Toll Roads - Linking People and Places."
The challenges facing the former Chief Directorate Roads for 1998/99 will mainly relate to the development of the new South African National Roads Agency into a fully-commercialised operation run on a performance- and delivery-orientated basis.
Managers will face many challenges as they come to terms with the new organisational structure, the transformed legal framework within which they will be undertaking their tasks and projects and the streamlined financial and human resource environments within which they will manage their staff and funds.
The Roads Agency will continue to focus on the delivery of major projects like the N3 Toll Road and the Platinum Spatial Development Initiative, and will strive to become increasingly sophisticated in its deployment of the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) and its variant mechanisms, so as to continually unlock access to new centres of potential economic activity.
Coupled with this, the Agency will seek to make major advances in strengthening its management capacity through the development of existing staff, the development and use of electronic information systems and the recruitment of new staff to enhance the skills base within our organisation.
1998/99 will see many changes in the organisation, and a final bedding down into the new environment.
Annual Report 97/98 - Main Contents || Department of Transport Organogram
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Management Services || Civil Aviation Authority || Land Transport