Picture: North West MEC for Public Works and Roads, Oageng Molapisi/Google
By OBAKENG MAJE
North West MEC for Public Works and Roads, Oageng Molapisi said much of R3.8 billion budget for 2023/24 financial year investment will be focused on roads. Molapisi said the department has appointed 37 contractors for projects across all four districts of the province.
“This publication comes at a time when we have just tabled our budget speech for the North West Department of Public Works and Roads for 2023/2024 before the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL). As you may be aware, the department has set aside about R3.8 billion for the province, and much of the investment will be focused on roads.
“We have come a long way as a province and have made steady progress towards improving service delivery for our people. In his State of the Province Address (SOPA), North West Premier, Bushy Maape said the provincial government is on its feet, restless and listening attentively to the cries of our people, who are delivering messages of impatience, requesting us to deliver on our promise,” he said.
Molapisi further said they are on the verge of finalising the establishment of the Roads Agency for the province, with a view to implementing its Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) projects. He added that, the agency will augment the department’s internal capacity and assist in fast-tracking service delivery of the planned major road infrastructure within the allocated time and budget.
“We are happy to announce that, SANRAL will implement 33 projects to the value of R1.6 billion, covering approximately 2.598km of road network across all four districts. We look forward to a growing relationship that will continue to benefit the province, the country and our people.
“24 of these are for the major rehabilitation and special maintenance, while 13 are for upgrading from gravel to tar. In addition, a total of 1063 jobs have been created and 272 SMMEs have been sub-contracted on all projects currently under construction,” said Molapisi.
He said, furthermore, the department will be appointing 10 consultants for the planning and design for planned upgrades of 10 roads from gravel to surface by the end of the second quarter. Molapisi said they continue to enjoy the support of and partnership with SANRAL to deliver world-class infrastructure for our people.
SANRAL CEO, Reginald Demana said: “Our mission to transform the national roads infrastructure in South Africa is at full steam, particularly for a province like the North West, which is at the epicentre of the mining and agricultural activity driving our economy.
“We intend to put major investment into key routes. Some of our key infrastructure in the province includes the N4, which stretches from the Botswana border post, through Pretoria to the Maputo Port in Mozambique. We also have N18 from Ramatlabama Border Post, which is a gateway to Botswana, also stretching across the province to Gauteng.”
Demana said they have earmarked several key infrastructure developments in the province, like the rehabilitation of the sinkhole on national route N12 in the Stilfontein urban area between 11.6km (Buffelfontein Road) and 12.6km in Wintervogel road. He said they have set aside R55 million for the project over six months and are glad to announce that, they have met their targeted groups for labour, which are 30% female, 30% youth and 0.5% of persons with disabilities.
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