The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) will invest more than R60 billion in road infrastructure projects in the Eastern Cape Province, said Welekazi Ndika, SANRAL Southern Region’s Stakeholder Coordinator. She was speaking at a stakeholder engagement session with members of the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders in East London.
SANRAL was invited by the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders to share information about its key projects in the Eastern Cape and to showcase how the national road network continues to be a catalyst for socio-economic development, providing much-needed job opportunities and developing skills in the province.
The session, held earlier this week, was one of many planned engagements that SANRAL will have with the Eastern Cape’s traditional leaders in the next few months.
“At SANRAL we always endeavour to link infrastructure development to economic development in our country. We see ourselves as not only responsible for building and maintaining the national road network, but our mandate is also to be a catalyst for economic growth and development. The developments that SANRAL has undertaken in the Eastern Cape are linked to other secondary roads in the province and we continue to ensure integration and synergy with local and provincial roads, in the process improving the socio-economic conditions of those that live alongside our national road network,” said Ndika.
She said that SANRAL had invested more than R8 billion on road construction projects in the Eastern Cape and most of these projects have benefitted the majority of black-owned companies.
SANRAL’s projects in the Eastern Cape Province are at various degrees of completion: some are completed, others are under construction, and others are under the tender and evaluation stages, or in the planning phase for the current financial year.
Some notable projects under construction include upgrading R63 Section 13 from Fort Beaufort to Alice, upgrading the R67 from Swart Kei River to Komani (formerly Queenstown), the N2 Wild Coast Road Msikaba Bridge construction and the construction of the N2 Breidbach and Belstone Interchanges.
Some of the projects recently awarded include the construction of the N2 Ndabakazi Interchange and the road improvement project of the N2 from Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) to Fish River Phase 3.
The Mtentu Bridge contract on the N2 Wild Coast Road (N2WCR) project, valued at R4.05 billion, and the R56 Matatiele to KZN Boundary project, valued at R1.2 billion, have recently been awarded by
SANRAL. There are currently also various community development projects being undertaken in parts of the province, during this financial year.
Key projects that are at award stage include the slope stabilisation of the R58 between Lady Grey and Barkley East, and the special maintenance project of the R390 from Cradock to Hofmeyr. Projects under evaluation include the road improvement project of the R63 from N6/R63 intersection to the N2/R63 intersection (Qumrha), and the R63 Section 15 to Section 16 Bhisho to N6 Bridge.
SANRAL’s engagement with the Eastern Cape Province’s traditional leaders is part of concerted efforts by the roads agency to work together and foster a relationship with traditional leaders to benefit rural communities.
Several of SANRAL’s major projects in the Eastern Cape traverse rural areas, connecting the province’s rural roads to urban centres
