Murray & Roberts (M&R) Infrastructure has been awarded a contract by the North West provincial government’s Department of Public Works and Roads to upgrade 58.4 km of gravel roads in the Ganyesa area, north-west of Vryburg, by May 2016.
The flagship contract, being overseen by consulting engineering firm Aurecon, forms part of the North West province’s concerted efforts to upgrade its road infrastructure through its major infrastructure development drive being spearheaded by North West Premier Supra Ramoeletsi Mahumapelo.
In his State of the Province address earlier this year, Mahumapelo said local government would “do everything with the limited resources available to it to improve the general condition of its roads”, in an effort to improve “Brand North West”, which had suffered major reputational damage due to the bad condition of most of its roads.
“The scope of work comprised the upgrading of gravel roads D327 and Z389 to a surface standard, plus appurtenant works,” M&R Infrastructure site agent Junior Nortje said in a statement.
The pavement specification for the project was a 13.2 mm X 6.7 mm double seal, with layerworks consisting of a G5 natural gravel base, a C4 stabilised sub-base, a G7 selected layer and a G9 fill.
“There is a mobile crushing plant, consisting of a jaw crusher and a gyratory cone crusher, on site,” Nortje noted, adding that this would be used should the need to crush material for the base and sub-base arise.
The current fleet on site included a full range of road construction equipment, from graders to rollers, tipper trucks, water carts, excavators and tractor-loader-backhoes.
Nortje said the logistics and supply chain management had been the greatest challenge thus far, owing to the remote project location.