The South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (Sanral) has announced plans to inject about R50bn into the country’s economy through tenders.
The national roads agency is evaluating 96 tenders worth R35bn, while 86 contracts worth R15bn have already been awarded since the start of the 2024/25 financial year on April 1.
Being evaluated are 34 tenders worth R16.5bn in the Northern Region (Gauteng, North West, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga); 24 tenders worth R3.8bn in the Southern Region (Eastern Cape); 12 tenders worth R2bn in the Western Region (Western Cape and Northern Cape); 12 tenders worth R11.7bn in the Eastern Region (KwaZulu-Natal and Free State); and 14 tenders at Head Office.
Sanral CEO Reginald Demana said this was a significant achievement given the procurement challenges the roads agency faced in 2023/24.
“This achievement is a testament to Sanral’s commitment to economic recovery for the road construction sector and South Africa at large and follows a significant setback to our procurement processes in 2023/24 when legal challenges to Sanral’s Preferential Procurement Policy (PPP) brought all tenders to a halt,” said Demana.
Demana said the awarded contracts, worth R1bn, as well as the tenders worth R35bn — which are now at various stages of evaluation — are being adjudicated in terms of the interim PPP.
“This was adopted towards the end of 2023 after countrywide consultations with interested and affected stakeholders. Furthermore, this progress is indicative of improved stability at an operational level. On July 1, Sanral appointed a chief procurement officer. We are determined to improve on the achievement of R51bn worth of tenders awarded in the 2022/23 financial year.”
Demana said the entity was pushing ahead to put out even more work, with a further R1.8bn worth of tenders to be advertised in the coming days and weeks.
“Sanral’s objective is not only to ensure that we maintain the existing national road network and to build new road infrastructure to facilitate economic growth, but to use the state’s spending power to see even more affect; this not only in terms of improved infrastructure but also economic opportunities that transform the economy and change people’s lives,” he said.
According to the national roads agency, with maintenance being critical to the upkeep of the national road network, there are new five-year term routine road maintenance (RRM) tenders on the cards across the country, particularly in relation to roads newly transferred to Sanral.
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