The Civil Engineering Contractor February 2019 | Page 27

TECHNOLOGY
Skhumbuzo Macozoma, CEO of Sanral.
interchanges. The roughly R500-
million project was undertaken in
response to a substantial increase
in traffic on this section of the road
corridor, which is administered by
the Bakwena Toll Concessionaire on
behalf of Sanral.
JG Afrika started working on the
preliminary and detailed design of
the two new carriageways on the
east and west sides of the existing
road in 2016, and a joint venture
(JV) between Raubex and Enza
Construction mobilised to site in mid-
2018 to begin the three-year works
programme. Phakamile Ngqumshe,
a director of JG Afrika, says that the
project is an extensive undertaking.
“It involves the construction
of about seven large structures,
including the Crocodile River Bridge
with its 120m span. This is in addition
to the lengthening of a number of
smaller structures, such as culverts,
along this section of the N4. The
scope of work also involves extensive
earthworks, with as much as 80%
of the clays on the project site to
be replaced by rock fill,” Ngqumshe
says. The rock fill comprises material
sourced from a mine waste dump
in the vicinity of the project. This
approach was proposed by Raubex
www.civilsonline.co.za
and Enza Construction and eliminates
the need to open borrow pits along
the route.
It supports Sanral’s focus
on building ‘green’ roads and
demonstrates the innovation that
the two contracting companies
brought to the professional team
at this early stage of the project.
The project is providing numerous
opportunities for small black-
empowered businesses located
within the vicinity of the road-
dualisation project. Bakwena has
committed to sourcing as much as
30% of all project requirements
from local businesses, with 10
emerging contractors working
alongside the Raubex and Enza
Construction JV.
“We have engaged and involved the
many community members who will
participate in this project early on via
two nominated officials from the City of
Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and
the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality.
This approach has ensured a spirit of
goodwill between the contractors and
the respective communities and is already
bearing fruit, as is evidenced by the
minimal disruption to construction
works that we have recently experienced,”
he says.
“We are the stimulus
before the [Ramaphosa]
stimulus package.”
Skhumbuzo Macozoma,
CEO of Sanral
Road testing and design
Roads have an extensive design and
test process, and South Africa is
currently in the process of moving
to a performance-based system due
to constantly increasing road traffic
growth. An important redesign
process is currently under way
regarding asphalt mix design for road
building. Industry-driven, it aims
to help roads withstand potentially
hotter climatic conditions for
greater durability.
Herman Marais, technical
director at Much Asphalt, says
of the mix design: “If it is for a
major contract like Sanral or a city
council, then it will go to their
consulting engineer, which may in
turn have the design verified or
recommend some tweaking of the
mix. Once the design is finalised,
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