An investment of billions of rands will be spent on the N2 and N3 road infrastructure projects in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

This investment is expected to play a key role in unlocking economic growth. To date it has also provided training for 1 000 young people, including civil engineers, quantity surveyors, chartered accountants and artisans.

National transport Minister Barbara Creecy said once completed, they will have covered 135km, including the east, west, north and south areas.

The total value of the project will be in the region of about R50 billion, she said.

“Easing traffic congestion, making these roads safer both for passengers and freight is a major objective of the project. At the moment, these areas have been plagued by congestion. Seventy percent of the freight that moves on land moves through this N2 and N3 corridor to the ports of Durban and Richards Bay,” said Ms Creecy.

As part of the Transport Month programme, Ms Creecy assessed the progress on the projects, starting by visiting the Key Ridge project in Peacevale, before making her way to the EB Cloete project upgrades and the N2 KwaMashu to Umdloti River Bridge.

The visit signaled the fast-tracking of delivery of critical road infrastructure, which is key to unlocking economic growth and the potential of the country, she said.

“The first objective is to widen the existing roads. On the N3, we want to increase the lanes to four or five lanes. We also want to increase the number of lanes on the interchanges,” she said. “This particular project is extremely interesting because it is about efficiency and road safety. Once it has been completed, there will be a new roadway that connects the N3 from one high level piece of ground to another high-level piece of ground.

“This will eliminate the sharp descent areas and the very sharp curves. That will have an enormous impact on road safety. It will also cut down on travel time and make it much more efficient for motorists.”

This project will promote the work of small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) and the work of young people, whether they are in the artisan class or whether they are university graduates.

“They have an opportunity to undertake on-site training so that they can be registered as professionals or as artisans in their particular category of work. One of the major problems that we face in this country, in terms of economic development and growth from a construction point of view, is that it is difficult for small construction companies to grow and attain the necessary experience so they can move up the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) registration ladder,” Ms Creecy said.

Contractors, who wish to work in the public sector, must register with the CIDB. The Register of Contractors (RoC) supports clients in infrastructure procurement, and categorises and grades contractors from 1-9, according to financial and works capability.

Thirty percent of the spend of this huge project is on sub-contractors, the minister said. The total value of this particular package of work is about R8 billion. The intention is to make sure that by the time a company is finished their particular package of work, they are able to upgrade their CIDB grading and in the future, be able to undertake a higher-level category of work and work of greater value, Ms Creecy added.

“With this project, we have trained 1 000 young people to date, including civil engineers, quantity surveyors, chartered accountants and artisans. Once they have completed their training, they will be able to register as professionals,” Ms Creecy said.

Throughout the history of South Africa, State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) have played an important role in giving practical training to graduates of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and universities.

“In this project, we are spending R340 million on the training of young people. The intention is that overtime, there will be 2 000 young people that will receive their formal technical training on all these construction sites,” Ms Creecy said.

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Billions invested in road infrastructure projects