BURGERSFORT – About three months after Superway Construction Pty Ltd was sacked by the South African National Road Agency (Sanral), a new contractor was appointed.
During these months the partial reconstruction of a portion of the R37 between Burgersfort and Lydenburg was halted. Sanral had secured the services of one of its routine road maintenance contractors to maintain and make the road safe for that period.
Construction work resumed last week following the appointment of the new contractor, G4 Civils & Jodan Joint Venture Company.
In December 2013 Sanral terminated the services of Superway Construction due to its failure to meet contractual obligations. “This is due to the constant delays, slow progress and questionable quality of work and postponement of the completion date.
The other reasons include the fact that the completed road works were left without any permanent asphalt surfacing, which resulted in the deterioration of constructed layer works. The old road also started to break-up due to increased road traffic, rain penetrating the surface layer and mainly because the road is at the end of its lifespan.
This saw the number of potholes on this stretch of the R37 increasing significantly last year because they were not maintained correctly and timeously,” said Mr Hannes van der Merwe, the Northern Region project manager.
The new contractor commenced with reconstruction activities on March 3 and is scheduled to complete the project within the next 20 months.
This is said to come at a price, both financially and in terms of travel-time delays. “We urge motorists to be patient at road closures and while travelling between the road closures. Motorists are advised to adhere to the imposed speed limits. It is for your own safety and that of construction workers. Obey all the rules of the road and be safe at all times especially at night in the mountain pass section,” added Van der Merwe.
According to Sanral there would only be limited full-lane closures at any given point in time. Any of these closures may not exceed 4 km in length. “We are all looking forward to the successful completion construction on the R37,” he concluded.
