JSE-listed civil engineering and construction-related services group Protech Khuthele on Monday announced that it had been awarded three contracts, comprising roads, construction and waterworks, valued at a collective R350-million over the past three months, taking the company’s order book to R1-billion.

The largest of the contracts, worth R285-million, was awarded by the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport.

It involves the construction of a new section of the R82 road between Walkerville and Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg.

The scope of work entails a new 4.3 km dual-carriageway and a new 2.2 km single-carriageway to double up on an existing section of roadway. A total of 170 000 m² of asphalt surfaced roadway will be built, along with the installation of 6 000 m of kerbing and more than 5 500 m of stormwater drainage pipes and culverts of varying sizes.

A new dual-carriageway intersection would also be built with street lighting provided at the carriageway intersection to increase safety on the road.

Meanwhile, Exxaro Resources awarded Protech Khuthele two waterworks contracts, valued at a collective R65-million, for the construction of a stormwater channel and a wastewater treatment works at the miner’s Grootegeluk mine, in Lephalale.

The stormwater channel project will include the construction of a 700 m concrete lined channel, as well as a 750 m precast culvert.

The wastewater treatment project will entail the construction of a water retaining, reinforced concrete reservoir of about 22 m x 40 m x 6 m in height, along with the pipework, valves, pumps and process plant equipment, which will process the wastewater from the existing coal plant.

Protech Khuthele is also required to project manage specialist subcontractors for the installation of mechanical and electrical instrumentation equipment, as well as for building a small control building.

“The wastewater treatment project marks the entry of Protech Khuthele into the civils and concrete sector,” Protech Khuthele CEO Antony Page said. 

The company expects the stormwater channel project, on which construction started in June, as well as the wastewater treatment project, to be completed by March 2014.

“As part of our upliftment and communities programme, we will be maximising the use of local resources, including skilled and unskilled men, women and people with disabilities. We will be providing training and opportunities for growth and development for both people and emerging businesses in the surrounding communities,” Page concluded.