of the R55 roadway
30 November 2007
More than a year ago, Gauteng Provincial Government made a commitment to the
people of the Tshwane Metropolitan regarding the major upgrade and doubling of
the R55 roadway from a single carriageway to a dual carriageway, against the
backdrop of a growing demand for public services in our province and the outlay
of transport infrastructure, in particular. This was also brought about by our
realisation that this road could no longer provide a safe and efficient service
to the residents of our province due to its limited capacity to address the
needs of new communities along the stretch of the roadway.
This state of affairs was also emphasised in our engagements with the
leadership of underlying communities such as Laudium and others, and we then
directed our department to take necessary steps to ensure this was addressed in
a manner that would improve the quality of life of the residents of Gauteng in
general.
Mandate of the department
Our mandate is to build an integrated public transport system on the
backbone of equally integrated transport infrastructure, while at the same time
utilising the development of social infrastructure to ensure more access to
opportunities for all our people.
The sod-turning ceremony of the R55 roadway takes place against the backdrop
of major successes achieved by our government in the outlay of transport
infrastructure in our province, based on our firm belief that transport is the
heartbeat of our country's economy and its social development.
The extent of the growing success in the implementation of roads
infrastructure development programmes is also indicative of the commitment of
our government to the building of a caring society, utilising such programmes
to build social capital, the glue that keeps our communities together. Indeed,
we would like to see such programmes helping our province in the building of
better and sustainable communities, characterised by tremendous growth in
partnerships between government and the various communities in our
province.
Challenges and programmes
Our government is committed to the development and transfer of skills and
knowledge to the youth of our country, and the women and people with
disabilities. In this regard, we have committed ourselves to ensuring that all
our small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) development programmes
necessarily reflect a 50% benefit for women, 30% for young people, and 2% for
people with disabilities. We are also intensifying the promotion of youth owned
enterprises in key economic sectors.
We have also set out criteria that will help us to ensure that, as of next
financial year, 40% of our contracts are set aside for the specific
participation of small, medium and micro enterprises. In this regard, we will
be concentrating on ensuring more access to plan equipment as well as building
and construction materials for CIDB levels One to Four, so as to help improve
the quality of works implemented by emerging contractors. Our wealth creation
programme, has been revised such that it brings about a 70% Broad Based Black
Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) complement by the year 2009.
Increasing the capacity of existing roads while building new ones
We are currently engaged in the intensification of the construction of new
roads while also increasing the capacity of existing provincial roads. We are
also scaling up our Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) efforts through a
revised maintenance framework for provincial roads in order to create more jobs
and ensure skills development for the residents of our province.
The implementation of Intelligent Transport Systems such as the Integrated
Safety and Security System (I3S) is also being vigorously pursued. Work is also
being done to finalise the establishment of a single transport authority for
Gauteng Province, this being the Gauteng Transport Management Authority (GTMA)
whose role shall be to help in the development, co-ordination, alignment, and
implementation of transport plans and programmes across the spheres of
government.
We are also pursuing the implementation of the Gauteng Transport Action
Agenda incorporating the Strategic Public Transport Network (SPTN). In the same
vein, the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Scheme is currently being implemented in
partnership with Sanral so as to ensure that our province has the necessary
capacity to support the growth and development of the economy of our province
and our country. This programme also ties in with 'A Better Roads Plan,' a
programme aimed the upgrading and surfacing of all gravel roads in the 20
prioritised townships roads.
All of this will help lay the foundation for the Globally Competitive City
Region by enhancing our global socioeconomic competitiveness while improving
the integration and co-ordination across spheres and creating conditions for a
single metro system of governance in Gauteng. We also seek to create a safe and
secure environment and, enhancing integrated transport infrastructure and
establish a single transport authority.
The doubling and upgrade of the R55 roadway
Today, we meet to once again unveil a programme to unlock the socioeconomic
node of an important part of Gauteng province, especially in Tshwane Metro. The
Sod Turning of the K71 / R55 Roadway upgrade represents government's commitment
to the delivery of adequate infrastructure to meet attendant challenges.
This roadway, is being upgraded at a cost of R220 million, from a single
carriageway to dual carriage status. The project will result in the creation of
jobs for local people as well fully accredited training and development
programmes for local people. The R55 / K71 upgrade will be implemented by
Patula Construction and VELA VKE and the project will take 24 months to
complete, ending in December 2009. This will include labour maximisation and
extensive BBBEE development and this will constitute 40% of the construction
works.
The labour content for this contract will be 26% of the works and the
recruitment of local labour shall be given priority. In addition to this,
approved training will be undertaken by the contractor coupled with accredited
training courses being attended by selected members of the local communities,
as identified by the Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works. The
courses will be open to all unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled employees and
they will focus on improving the abilities and raising the standards of those
attending. An amount of R1,5 million has been allocated for training of
labourers and SMME contractors. All training shall be under the auspices of the
Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA), and will be
accredited.
The works entail the construction of a section of road K71 between the
northern on/off ramp to Road P158/2 and 6,3 kilometre just before the
intersection with Road K103. The traffic shall be accommodated on the existing
road while the second carriageway is being constructed. There after the traffic
will be diverted to the new carriageway while the existing carriageway is
reconstructed. The existing Monavoni Circle will fall away and be replaced with
a signalised intersection. The two legs of the intersection, road P102/1
towards Wierda Park and Monavoni, will be realigned over a short section.
Two service roads are to be constructed parallel to road K71 and
approximately 200 m west and east of the road. These two service roads are as
follows:
* Service Road West: Between Lochner Road and northwards to the southern
boundary of portion 153; approximately 820 metre long.
* Service Road East: Between Lochner Road and northwards to the southern
boundary of portion 124; approximately 560 metre long.
The first 2,5 kilometre of Road D49 will also be reconstructed and upgraded
to a 8,6 metre wide two-lane road with gravel shoulders. The first 700 metre of
road D49 will be constructed on a new horizontal alignment and the rest will be
reconstructed on the existing horizontal alignment.
Two bridge structures will be constructed along the route:
Bridge 5 566 over Rietspruit at kilometre 5 646, will be in the form of a
dual three span, 57,7 metre long continuous cast in-situ slab deck, spans
ranging from 19 to 19,6 metres. The depth of the deck will be 1 000
millimetres. The substructure comprises of fully continuous abutments, with
wall type piers.
The existing bridge on the current road alignment will need to be
demolished, and the material used for the construction of a water channelling
beam just downstream of the new bridges. Total volume of concrete to be
demolished is approximately 750 metre square.
Bridge 5 567 over Hester se Loop at 4 573 kilometre will be in the form of a
double celled culvert, each cell 3 000 millimetres wide and 2 400 millimetres
high, cast in-situ, with a total length of approximately 75 metres. There will
need to be apron slabs constructed on both the inlet and outlet sides of the
culvert, each about four metres in length and varying in width with the flaring
out of the culvert's wing walls.
There are currently three existing culverts in the vicinity of the new
proposed culvert, which will need to be demolished and removed. The total
volume of concrete to be removed is approximately 250 m³.
Gabions will be placed at both the inlet and outlet of the culvert to
protect the surrounding soil, coupled by a filling of the road crossing over
the culvert.
Conclusion
The strategic objective of this project is to ensure the building of safe
and sustainable communities and to also improve the efficiency of an important
provincial road link while also helping to improve road capacity and promoting
Black Economic Empowerment during the construction phase.
For more information contact:
Alfred Nhlapo
Tel: 011 355 7532
Cell: 083 376 8496
Issued by: Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works, Gauteng
Provincial Government
30 November 2007
