The Portfolio Committee on the Office of the Premier (OTP) conducted oversight visits to newly completed SANRAL projects during its Public Participation week from 26-29 September.
As part of the Eastern Cape provincial legislature’s Public Participation Week, the committee conducted site visits to various projects being implemented in order to assess the conditions of the projects and the progress made by the Office of the Premier in service delivery intervention to ensure that resolutions of the provincial legislature are implemented.
The projects visited by the portfolio committee included the R67 between Komani and Swart Kei River in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality and the R63 between Alice and Fort Beaufort in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality.
Member of the provincial legislature leading the delegation, Mr Kesava Pillai Anilkumar, said that “the oversight process is very key. This portfolio committee oversight visit is a learning curve as it was done in a different format in the past”.
The upgrading of National Route R67 section 5 from Swart Kei River to Komani started in July 2020 and was completed in May 2023. The project entailed the upgrading of 18km of the R67, including the upgrading of the Swart Kei River bridge and community access roads.
This was Phase 2 of the project. Phase 1 of the project concluded in 2019 and covered the upgrading of the R67 from Sada (formerly Whittlesea) to Swart Kei River.
Under this project, 571 jobs were created and 56 targeted enterprises (that is SMMEs) were subcontracted, with R168 million spent on black-owned SMMEs.
SANRAL’s Regional Stakeholder Relations Specialist, Ms Welekazi Ndika, said that under the project, more than 50 people were trained, including TVET college students who required in- service training to complete their civil engineering qualification.
Ndika explained that the community development projects under this project would be commencing soon, using labour-intensive methods and are to be done solely by local targeted enterprises.
The R63 between Alice and Fort Beaufort was completed in August and included seven community development projects, which were implemented by 22 local SMMEs.
The scope of works included the strengthening of the existing road and construction of a new carriageway and passing lanes; major cuts and fills; replacing of culverts; construction of additional culverts; widening of two river bridges and construction of three new bridges (2 x road-over-rail and 1 x river bridge); upgrading of water, sewer and stormwater services and roadworks; as well as the installation of new street lights in Fort Beaufort’s and Alice’s main roads.
Valued at R870 million, the project created 845 job opportunities, 612 of which went to local labourers. More than 100 (103) subcontractors were appointed, with over R260 million spent on black-owned SMMEs.
Reflecting on the upgrading of the R63, Councillor Bandile Ketelo, mayoral committee member of the Amathole District Municipality and former mayor of Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, said: “At the beginning of the project we had a lot of contestation by local SMMEs which resulted in project stoppages. Those issues were resolved through continuous engagement. This was a very dangerous accident-prone road so the community appreciates that it has now been upgraded.”
Ndika explained that some of the challenges during the project included material sourcing from local quarries and demands from the taxi industry to transport labour for the projects. “We have learnt a lot from this project that will help us improve our approach even on other projects going forward,” said Ndika.
Cllr Ketelo also requested that SANRAL must ensure more meaningful participation and beneficiation by military veterans on its future projects.
Ndika said that SANRAL would consider the request for installation of additional streetlights along the main road near the University of Fort Hare under the R63 routine road maintenance contract.
“As the legislature, we are proud of the work that is being done by SANRAL in the province and we encourage continued intergovernmental engagement to assess conditions around projects that require intervention. Communication is key in development. Nine heads of state studied at the University of Fort Hare, therefore we welcome the support and development in this area,” said delegation leader Anilkumar.
