A R48 million periodic maintenance project to repair, reseal and resurface a 55 km stretch of the R61 near Beaufort West in the Central Karoo District is well underway. The R61 is a link road between Beaufort West and Aberdeen that serves local farming communities and that provides a link between the N1 and the Southern Cape.
The scope of works includes repairing base failures on the road where necessary using emulsion-treated base patches, applying a slurry texture seal to the entire 55 km section, and applying a 14 mm bitumen rubber single seal. On contracts like this, where possible, labour-intensive methods supported by appropriate training must be used, and a proportion of the contract amount must be spent on targeted labour, targeted enterprises, local enterprises, and targeted labour. The contractor has made commitments in respect of targeted labour (79 labourers working a total of 5 200 labour-days), targeted enterprises (12.5% of the contract amount), and local enterprises (10% of the contract amount).
The work commenced in January 2021. If everything goes according to plan, this project is expected to be complete in December 2021.