The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has started adjudicating tenders worth R6.43 billion that will be awarded early in 2024 to boost the construction industry.

Sanral’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Reginald Demana, said the 77 tenders for various road construction projects were advertised at the end of November 2023 under the road agency’s Interim Preferential Procurement Policy (PPP) and submission closed on 14 December.

“Sanral is currently adjudicating 77 tenders which will give the construction industry a good start in the New Year, helping to create thousands of jobs and inject billions of rands into the economy.

“While the rest of South Africa is winding down for the festive season, Sanral is working hard to get South Africa’s construction industry off to a flying start in the New Year.

“The fact that our officials are working through the holidays to adjudicate these tenders is an indication of our commitment to fulfilling the promises we made to the South African public, and it shows that we are getting back to business as soon as possible,” said Demana.

“We understand the role that construction and infrastructure development plays in the construction industry and we are determined to overcome the disruptions which resulted from court challenges to our PPP adopted in May 2023.

“We are squarely focussed on developing, maintaining and improving the national road network in line with our mandate from the government,” Demana said on Wednesday.

After several court challenges launched by construction companies, Sanral announced on 24 October that it was withdrawing the PPP adopted in May 2023 and embarked on a countrywide consultation process with interested and affected parties to adopt an interim PPP.

The 77 tenders, which are currently being adjudicated, were advertised in line with the interim policy.

Demana stressed that Sanral was making every effort to catch up on the time that the industry had lost by putting out 86 of the less complex consulting and construction tenders that were cancelled and subsequently re-advertised at the end of November.

The CEO said 1 040 bids were received for the 77 tenders, and this illustrated the significance of Sanral projects in the construction industry.

The breakdown of the 1 040 bids is as follows:

• 124 bids for national contracts with an estimated value of R350 million;
• 279 received for the Northern Region (Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North-West) with an estimated value of R548 million;
• 247 received for the Eastern Region (Free State and KwaZulu-Natal) with an estimated value of R2.1 billion;
• 240 received for the Southern Region (Eastern Cape) with an estimated value of R2.83 billion, and;
• 150 for the Western Region (Northern Cape and Western Cape) with an estimated value of R600 million.

“We are encouraged and, at the same time, humbled by this overwhelming response. It also tells us that the numerous engagements we had with interested and affected parties across the country have paved the way for more effective collaboration with all our stakeholders in the industry,” Demana said. 

The official shutdown period for the construction sector commenced on 14 December 2023 and will end on 9 January 2024.

While all conventional road construction will be suspended during this time, Sanral’s Routine Road Maintenance teams remain on standby to respond to any incident on the national road network.

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