Road construction activity in South Africa in 2023 – Ranked by province

Out of the close to 7,000km of road construction projects awarded in the first three quarters of 2023, the Northern Cape was given the lion’s share of 36% – a noticeable 8% above the nearest province.

Following the lead was the Eastern Cape at 28%, the Western Cape at 23%, and KwaZulu-Natal at 6%, with the remainder of the provinces comprising the Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West all contributing a collective 6%, too.

“Overall kilometres awarded increased by near three-fold in the first three quarters of 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, reaching close to 7,000km, of which 75 percent related to road upgrades,” according to construction data firm Industry Insight.

“Tender activity continued to improve, with projects that exceed 1,000km (mainly upgrades) issued in the Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Kwazulu Natal, Eastern Cape, and North West.”

Source: Industry Insight

Major projects underway in Northern and Eastern Cape

The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) recently commenced two major road upgrade projects in both the Northern and Eastern Cape, the former expected to continue for at least nine months and the latter for around one year.

In the Northern Cape, the agency in August started the periodic maintenance, which includes the pre-treatment and re-seal of the existing road surface, of the N1 sections 10 and 11, as well as the improvement or replacement of existing drainage and ancillary works infrastructure.

As such, it is implementing Stop-and-Go traffic accommodation measures on the national route between Bontebok and Hanover, a popular thoroughfare for motorists traveling to and from Gauteng and the Western Cape, and is applying speed restrictions of 60km/h at the work zones until the end of May 2024.

In the Eastern Cape, a large section of the N2 freeway between Makhanda (Grahamstown) and the Fish River Pass in the Eastern Cape will be experiencing weekly blasting operations until the end of July 2024.

These roadworks commenced in August, too, and are taking place every Wednesday at 14h00 on Section 13 of the N2, from kilometre 92.6 to kilometre 103.6, and Section 14, between kilometre 0.0 and kilometre 5.05.

“The road will be closed on these days from 14h00 for a maximum period of three hours, up to 17h00, to allow sufficient time for cleaning the existing N2 and making it safe for the traveling public,” said Sanral.

With both these massive projects affecting travel time on major national routes for the better part of the next year, motorists driving to and from the coastal provinces will have to factor in additional time to get to their end destinations.