Construction World June 2016
ROADS AND BRIDGES
Current major projects
Project: Ashton to Montagu road (13,4 kms) in the Western Cape • Client: Western Cape Government: Department of Transport and Public Works • Duration: 36 months • Value: R583-million • Scope: Rehabilitation of TR 31 from Ashton to Montagu through Cogmanskloof, the reconstruction and widening of the existing pavement layers, three of the existing river bridges are to be replaced with new structures, the stormwater systems are to be upgraded, retaining walls on both the mountain and river side of the road will have to be installed. Project: Polokwane Eastern Ring Road Phase II • Client: SANRAL • Duration: 36 months • Value: R641-million • Scope: Re-Alignment of the N1-27 towards the south of Polokwane over 4,2 km, development and widening of the N1-27 ring road as a four lane divided dual carriageway over 19 km, and construction of six new bridges. Project: National Route 1 section 29: Construction of the Musina Ring Road • Client: SANRAL • Duration: 30 months • Value: R556-million • Scope: Construction of a 4 lane dual
Project: Upgrade of National Route 61 section 7 from Baziya to Mthatha • Client: SANRAL • Duration: 36 months • Value: R504 103 892 • Scope: Widening to a 13,4 m surfaced width, additional auxiliary lanes, 14 major culverts, etc. Project: Marine works for the Admin Craft Basin at the Port of Ngqura • Client: Transnet Capital Projects
A recently completed project is the rehabilitation of Bruma Lake – Basil Read Roads Division is currently doing load testing of the reconstructed bridge.
• Duration: 20 months • Value: R376 158 453 • Scope: Preparation of Eastern
Reclamation Site to receive land based excavated material, excavation and dredging of approximately 656 00 0m³ of material.
a competitive market, but in the long run, clients then allow contractors to build inferior products because they use the cheapest price as a unique selling point. On a building, inferior construction can be spotted early on. It is very hard to build a road that fails within six months – some of our international clients and roads agencies are learning this the hard way: the saving they initially regarded as beneficial often results in an inferior product. Our diverse team is another unique selling point. We have the expertise within the company to try and find a solution. This is the direction the Division is moving towards – solutions driven – where construction and engineering move closer together and one does not simply provide a client with a product that they decided upon as their solution very early in the process and without input from the contractor on constructability and cost efficiency issues. It is a concern that the rollout of infra- structure projects is not happening faster throughout southern Africa. Infrastructure provision is one of the ways to stimulate an economy. Added to that is the fact that wealth in the broader African context cannot be created when there is a lack of reliable transportation links – it is a continent with tremendous wealth, but these resources are landlocked and can often not be transported to a port. It is a tough time in the construction industry – we are, hopefully, at the end of a long negative cycle. There is opportunity in this though – it allows Basil Read to refor- What is your opinion of the current status quo of construction?
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engineer on how to move forward with
carriageway Greenfields bypass of approximately 8 km, Construction of the Musina interchange and Freedom Street overpass and Nancefield (R572) Interchange, Construction of Toynton Road and the Mac Transco railway line road- over-rail-bridge, re-alignment and construction of Harper road.
the project.
Basil Read provides the Client with alternatives such as providing a concrete (rigid) alternative to the proposed bitumen pavement (flexible). Unfortunately road construction (and infrastructure in general) is generally based on current economic imperatives: our forecast is about four to five years. Some clients (such as concessionaires and certain roads agen- cies) can take a long term view and invest in concrete roads – these last longer, but are initially more expensive. The St Helena Airport runway is a concrete runway – there the imperatives were different: not based solely on initial infra- structure cost, but how to maintain a runway over the long term in a very remote location. What is the division’s unique selling point Price? Technology? Our ability to offer alternatives to the design that we are presented with, is a unique selling point. Price can be a unique selling point in
mulate the way we do business and to start working closer to the client instead of being reactive and relying on work to come our way: the St Helena Airport project is an example of this – we actively ‘created’ work on a design and construct basis. Through projects undertaken within our Developments Division we have a model to create work across the company. Locally South Africa has an immense need for housing, sanitation and water supply. Housing is one sector that will develop work for the company as a whole and which we are very excited about.
CONSTRUCTION WORLD JUNE 2016
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