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Company contracted to expand toll road linking SA and Moz

N4 UPGRADE PROJECT
The 22-month-long refurbishment is set for completion in July 2016

N4 UPGRADE PROJECT The 22-month-long refurbishment is set for completion in July 2016

13th February 2015

  

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Murray & Roberts Infrastructure (MRI), a division of engineering, procurement and construction management major Murray & Roberts Group, has been awarded a 22-month contract by Trans African Concessions (Trac) to upgrade the N4 toll road connecting South Africa to Mozambique.

The N4 toll road, which includes six toll plazas, stretches for 570 km from the Solomon Mahlangu offramp, in Pretoria, to the Port of Maputo, in Mozambique. MRI was awarded the contract in September 2014, and completion of the project is scheduled for July 2016.

MRI project manager Derek Brink states that the scope of the company’s work focuses on a section of the N4 near Middelburg, which starts east of the Rockdale interchange and ends west of the Arnot interchange, in Mpumalanga.

The project requires MRI to increase the carrying capacity of an 18 km section of road by constructing a new double-lane eastbound carriageway with associated infrastructure, including the construction of a bridge overpass at the Klein Olifants river, the extension of an existing bridge, minor rehabilitation to existing bridges and construction of six large on-site culverts and associated drainage works.

Brink asserts that the most challenging aspect of constructing the ancillary infrastructure is the location of the bridge over the Klein Olifants river. In addition, one of the culverts will be at the entrance of the Middelburg dam, which presents a challenge, not only from a construction point of view, but also from an environmental point of view.

Brink asserts that Trac, together with its consultants, has compiled the necessary environ-mental management plans, and that MRI has its own in-house environmental manager to assist them, if need be.

He adds that MRI will also reconfigure the existing section of the N4 into a new three-lane westbound carriageway.

“The new carriageway will feature a 40-mm-thick asphalt pavement layer, while the existing westbound carriageway will be rehabilitated and surfaced with a 13.2 mm single-seal layer,” says Brink.

Brink further explains that this section of the N4 is a build, operate and transfer toll road jointly owned by South Africa and Mozambique and that the countries will both reassume responsibility for the project once Trac’s 30-year concession expires in 2027.

He adds that the road has an economic life span of 20 to 25 years, and that Trac is hopeful that, when the ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation plans are handed back to the two governments, the road will still be in good condition.

“The contract effectively commenced at the beginning of the rainy season, which does pose a challenge. “However, with MRI’s expert capabilities, we expect to meet the July 2016 deadline,” Brink concludes.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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