The routine road maintenance (RRM) contract No. SCMU5-16/17-0021, for various provincial paved and gravel roads located in both Emalahleni & Intsika Yethu local municipalities within the Eastern Cape Province, came to an end in January 2020. The client was the Eastern Cape Department of Transport (ECDoT) with the appointed Contractor being Cotterrell’s Construction.
Ndodana Consulting Engineers was appointed to undertake the professional services associated with the maintenance of these roads including supervision of the works for a period of 40 months.
The maintenance works entailed:
The re-gravelling of approximately 68km of gravel roads.
Dry and wet blading operations of approximately 850km of gravel roads where the blading cycle was repeated twice annually.
Construction of stormwater cause-ways and culvert structures.
Pothole and edge repair of surfaced roads.
Installation of appropriate road signage and markings.
Installation of fences.
Construction of pedestrian crossings.
Opening and safe rehabilitation of borrow pit’s.
The employers’ target that 25% of the contract value had to be subcontracted to Micro Enterprises who were registered with the CIDB in grading categories 1 to 3 was met. In total there were 22 work packages put out to tender where various Micro Enterprises were thereafter appointed for each work package. Labour-intensive construction methods based on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) were implemented where it was practically feasible to do so.
NCE was responsible to develop a maintenance plan to guide the maintenance activities of the Contractor. This plan was aligned with the allocation of the available budget each year. NCE was responsible to conduct meetings with affected communities and relevant forums to establish communication channels. This was a key objective for Mr Webster Ndodana, Managing Director of NCE, who firmly believes in community engagement for the smooth running of any construction project.
