JOHANNESBURG - The South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) said on Thursday that it will issue major road construction tenders to the value of more than R40 billion to the construction sector over the next two to three years.
Louw Kannemeyer, SANRAL's engineering executive, said the new projects will include some 90 major capital works projects larger than R500 million each which will go out to tender during the three year medium-term period.
National Treasury has allocated about R21.5 billion per year for the maintenance and improvement of SANRAL's 19,262km non-toll network.
Kannemeyer said this will go towards a total of 940 projects, of which 325 are already under construction.
"We expect a surge in road construction projects over the medium-term framework as part of the broader national efforts to invest in economic infrastructure," Kannemeyer said.
"We are confident that this investment will help to boost the construction sector which has been under severe pressure in recent years, and also cascade down to black-owned and emerging enterprises who will receive much larger shares of tenders in future."
SANRAL said tenders to the value of R8.3 billion for construction work on the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg will go out to tender during the current financial year. This is financed through the infrastructure stimulus package announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018.
This will include seven major tenders on the N3 which will be issued within the next three months once the regulatory approvals have been received and land acquisition finalized.
Starting in August, Kannemeyer said SANRAL will issue smaller tenders related to routine road maintenance and periodic maintenance across the entire SANRAL network and in all nine provinces.
"The projects will provide economic and social infrastructure that has the potential to unlock economic growth, stimulate local economies and create jobs within the communities that are located close to the construction activities."
"We are confident that the R40 billion in tenders that are in the pipeline will benefit the broader construction sector and contribute to the growth of new enterprises who have been excluded from major contracts in the past."