Location & Description of Project

The contract is located on National Road R22 Section 5 from km 20.55 to km 24.42, within the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province and the Umkhanyakude District Municipality and was awarded to BVi Consulting Engineers in January 2018 for design and construction supervision.  BVi appointed BSP Consulting Engineers as Targeted Enterprise and partner on the project.

The section of road traverses the town of KwaNgwanase situated within Umhlabuyalingana Local Municipality.  The project involved the rehabilitation and widening of National Route R22-5 through the town of KwaNgwanase.  It also included the construction of street lighting, new storm water systems and a 2.83 km long bypass road (IYK Road) connecting with Road R22-5 at km 22.25 and km 25.0.

Other works included in the scope are the construction of access roads, pedestrian sidewalks, the identification and relocation of services as well as two community development projects.

Locality Plan –National Route R22, Section 5 (km 20.55 to km 24.42)

Motivation

The project included many challenges in terms of working within a built-up environment, maintaining access to business properties during construction and accommodating local vendors situated along the urban portion.  Traffic had to be accommodated in half-widths under stop/go control while the road was reconstructed and widened in short sections.

The cross section along the urban portion was constrained due to the narrow road reserve width available, which necessitated the use of retaining walls in certain areas.  Stormwater had to be accommodated under the sidewalk and in some instances within the slow lane of the road.

Retaining wall & Installation of ø900 mm stormwater mainline

Aerial view of IYK Bypass Road showing pedestrian crossing at school & busbay

Improved access to Local Municipality (Rural) & Urban Section

Informal vendors along the urban section had to be relocated with the assistance of the local municipality.  As part of SANRAL’s contribution to the improvement of local communities, a new market stall was constructed as community development project. 

The Contractor involved 40 sub-contractors for work including construction of drainage structures, kerbs, sidewalks, retaining walls and gabion works. Whereas the aim was to achieve 30% of the contract value for targeted enterprises, the Contractor achieved almost 38%. Similarly, the Contractor far exceeded the 8% labour requirement and achieved a total spend of 24% on the project.

Market Stalls

Animal Pound

An amount of R720 000 was spent on Corporate Social Investment (CSI) benefitting local schools, a youth sports academy, two creches as well as the Tribal Authority.  Included, as part of the CSI spend, was financial support of three local engineering students towards their study bursaries.

Two community development projects were completed by three local sub-contractors under this project.  The first involved the construction of 50 market stalls with a value of R3.5 million (excl. VAT).  The second project was the construction of an animal pound.  The objective of this project was to provide the municipality with a facility to house stray animals collected from the R40 road reserve.  The total cost of this facility was R6.1 million (excl. VAT).

Construction of the IYK Bypass Road at a cost of R28 million (excl. VAT) provided an alternative route while construction of Road R22 was ongoing and importantly, provided the municipality with a surfaced road benefitting the community. 

Summary

The project was completed successfully in December 2023 and benefitting the community.  Teamwork and in particular, stakeholder engagement, played a key role in this success.  The public liaison officer together with the site teams proved effective in ensuring that the local municipality, Tribal Council, business owners and the community were continuously informed and engaged on various matters.  Key in this process was the SANRAL project manager’s dedication and involvement as PLC chair.

The Contractor maintained an exceptionally good relationship with the local population including representatives from the Tribal Authority, which assisted in a smooth project without any undue work stoppages or protests.

The final cost of construction was R340 million inclusive of VAT.