The Civil Engineering Contractor June 2019 | Page 10

CONTRACTORS ON SITE
Barrier wall:
uMkhanyakude/
Mozambique border Uganda secures
contractor for 97km
oil road project Newlands Cricket
Grounds transformation
- leisure component
Construction of a R85.8-million
2.2m concrete barrier wall between
uMkhanyakude and Mozambique border,
near Kosi Bay (phase 1: 0.0km to
8.0km) in KwaZulu-Natal, will shortly
get under way. The contractor, Shula
Construction, and engineering company,
ISF Engineering, await work permits.
The Department of Transport
is beginning the first phase of
constructing a concrete barrier wall
between uMkhanyakude district and
the Mozambique border as part of
the provincial government’s effort to
address cross-border crime. This first
phase of the wall will run to 8km.
Residents in the area of uMkhanyakude
complained about an increase in
crime particularly the smuggling of
dagga, illegal cigarettes and stolen
vehicles from uMkhanyakude into
Mozambique. A satellite police station
was opened in KwaSkhemelele, which
has improved policing in the corridor
between Mhlabuyalingana and Manguzi.
Community
Crime
Prevention
Volunteers have also been deployed to
work with the police in the area. nn Uganda
National
Roads
Authority and China Railway
Seventh Group have signed
an agreement for the latter to
design and construct a 97km
road, which includes Masindi-
Biso, Kabaale-Kizirafumbi and
Hohwa-Nyairongo-Kyarushesha-
Butole roads. This is a segment
of the 700km of crucial oil roads
that are set to be tarmacked in
preparation for the transportation
of equipment and oil from 2021.
Construction
began
in
May and is expected to be
completed in the next 24
months. The entire 700km work
is expected to cost more than
USD135-million. The contractor
will pre-finance and execute
construction works for 12 months
from the commencement date
while the Ugandan government
seeks funds for the works to
be executed. The government
has secured about 30% right
of way on the project-affected
areas. nn A proposal was approved for the
development of places of entertainment
as part of the transformation of the
Newlands Cricket Grounds into a
precinct of blue-chip offices, doctors’
rooms and places of entertainment. Two
of the three pavilions will have their
suites converted to offices and a new
building will be added. There are plans
for a three-tier parking garage for 540
vehicles, a 300-bay bicycle garage, two
or three restaurants, two or three coffee
shops and a modernised player centre. A
cricket school will also be fully housed
within the stadium and there will be a
cricket museum and a shop.
The city recently approved the
rezoning of the property from
community and transport zones to a
general business use zone, removing all
previous conditions which restricted
the use of the stadium to cricket only.
Construction is expected to start in
March and will include a five-storey
office building, auditorium, an indoor
cricket centre, a school, museum, shops,
restaurants and parking garages to make
it more commercially sustainable. nn
Kafulafuta Dam, Zambia
Construction of a dam on the Kafulafuta River in Ibenga area,
Masaiti District, is underway to supply water to Mpongwe, Masaiti,
Luanshya and Ndola Districts in the Copperbelt province of Zambia.
The contract director is China National Complete Engineering
Corporation. The proposed site for the dam lies 50km west of
Ndola City. The areas of the dam will have a catchment area of
2 500km² with water supply capacity of 330 000m3/day and total
volume of 125 million m 3 . The length of the dam will be 1 200m,
the surface area 19.5km² and the project value USD450-million.
Construction remains ongoing with more than 40% of the works
completed. Total projected completion is for 2020. Construction of
44 houses for local people who have been resettled will pave way
for the development; the homes form part of more than 250 houses
that the contractor has built as compensation for their relocation.
The EIA process is complete and ZEMA has approved the project
with 20% of the works already allocated to local contractors. nn
8 | CEC June 2019
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