Transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has assessed the South African National Roads Agency’s (Sanral) R3bn road infrastructure programme in the Buffalo City Metro.
Chikunga gave the thumbs-up to the road infrastructure investment in the metro and surrounding areas during an oversight visit on Friday.
Her visit covered four Sanral projects — the N2 Green River to Buffalo River, valued at R655m; the N2 Belstone and Breidbach interchanges, valued at R438m; Kwa-Tshatshu Community Development project, valued at R24m and the Kwa-Rhayi Community Development project, valued at R30.8m.
The projects have generated more than 1,000 jobs, with about R155m spent on labour, 230 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) subcontracted for about R334m, and more than 1,200 people having received theoretical and practical training with a budget of close to R10m.
Chikunga led a delegation including MECs, BCM mayor Princess Faku and mayors of surrounding municipalities, traditional leadership and Sanral board members to assess the status of the projects.
“I am very happy with the work that I see here,” Chikunga said, speaking at the Tshoxa Bridge 1.
“You can’t build such structures without people.
“Our work is labour intensive so that you employ people and teach them skills.”
Chikunga was particularly impressed with the Tshoxa 1 Bridge near the Buffalo River that won a South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) national award for the construction category in 2023.
She said this was testament to the world-class engineering excellence for which Sanral had become known.
At the Tshatshu Community Development Project, Sanral’s efforts to transform the road construction sector was evident, as the constructed work is being done by 31 local SMMEs, 17 of which are owned by women.
“When you come to the Eastern Cape, there is one thing that Sanral does and that is to ensure community development projects happen,” she said.
“It is not just about road building. It is about investment, because investors will see the good roads and decide to open their companies here, which further aids job creation.”
Chikunga also received updates on the progress of several other Sanral projects in BCM and surrounding areas:
• A R1.3bn improvement of the National Route R63 Sections 15 and 16 Bhisho to N6/R63 Intersection;
• The upgrading of National Route R63 between km 21.7 and the N2 past Qumrha (km 43.64), valued at R983;
• The reseal on National Route N2 of Section 16 from Mooiplaas (km 49.9) to Qumrha T-junction (km 70.2), valued at R159m; and
• The R10.5m upgrade of 1.34km of the Ginsberg Road to a surfaced road.
“The work of the department of transport, through our implementing agency, Sanral, has contributed a major financial injection to the economy of the metro and the Eastern Cape at large,” she said.
“Through this vast road infrastructure development, we not only enabled a conducive environment for the transportation of people and goods, we have also created tangible opportunities for communities to earn a living, while training, upskilling and developing our emerging contractors so that they may compete alongside the big players and to self-sustain beyond these projects.”
Eastern Cape transport and community safety MEC Xolile Nqatha lauded the significant investment that Sanral was making in the province.
“On behalf of the provincial government, I want to thank Sanral for turning our province into a construction site.
“It has helped to create jobs and develop small contractors,” Nqatha said.
“Some of the contractors I have engaged with started out as Grade 1 and some are now Grade 5 and Grade 6. That is called development.”
Chikunga interacted with pupils from schools in the metro and surrounding municipalities through the department’s Shova-Kalula bicycle programme, which is aimed at assisting pupils who walk more than 3km but less than 5km to and from school, with non-motorised transport solutions.
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