Billions dedicated to upcoming road upgrades
Sanral elaborated on the figures during its flagship stakeholder engagement session last week.
Billions of rand will be used to upgrade at least three major routes in Pretoria, said the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) during its flagship stakeholder engagement session in Eersterust on Friday.
During the engagement session, project manager Riaan Oerlemans said:
- R525-million budget was dedicated to the construction of a dual carriageway road from Stormvoel Road to Baviaanspoort Road and Moepel Road overpass;
- R1,2-billion dedicated to upgrading the R573 national road – which passes through the infamous Moloto Road – from 4,1km to 8,9km and the construction of the PWV2 between the N1/N4 and R573 national roads;
- R750-million dedicated to upgrading the R573 national road from 2,4km to 4,1km and the upgrading of the R513 – better known as Sefaka Makgatho Drive – from 0,2km to 1,6km including the construction of an interchange along the R573-1/Sefako Makgatho Drive.
Some of the upgrades to the deadly Moloto Road would include building roundabouts at intersections to regulate traffic flow, upgrading access roads and pedestrian facilities, and installing new streetlights.
“We’re a bit behind with the first project, but we are on track with the second and third projects,” he said.
Oerlemans also said the first project, which included the construction of the dual carriageway in both directions, would take 18 months to complete.
However, construction at the second project – valued at more than R1-billion – was expected to take around double the time to begin and complete.
“We anticipate that the project will take 30 months,” Oerlemans said.
While the budget had already been set for the upgrades, he explained the upgrades were currently still between the detail design and final design stages.
Program director and stakeholder coordinator for the northern region, Jullescia Saul, said the massive project would require steering committees in the areas that would be affected by the construction to be established, namely Eersterust and East Lynne.
The steering committees would consist of five community members falling under the categories of a traditional/religious leader; a youth; taxi association representative; a woman and a community leader.
Two project liaison officers would also need to be appointed.
Saul said that they would return to the community to host SMME (small, medium, and micro enterprises) workshops to educate interested parties who wanted to get involved on what would be required from them, how labor would be appointed, and how they could access the various opportunities the upgrades would present.
Source: Rekord East.