Local small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) were recently encouraged to step-up and be counted as part of the N7 road upgrade.
South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (Sanral) held a session with business people from within the West Coast District municipal area on Wednesday (14 April) to encourage them to become subcontractors for the road project. According to Sanral, the engagement was to unlock bottlenecks that may have contributed to the slow uptake of subcontracting tenders for the upgrade between Rooidraai and Moorreesburg.
With three years of construction to go on the R600 million project there are still opportunities for locals to be part of the upgrade as subcontractors.
“So committed is Sanral to expanding the reach of economic inclusion for black businesses on our projects,” said Petronella Theron, Sanral Project Manager. “So we are actively encouraging SMMEs to tender for work packages, particularly for 1CE and 2CE graded entities, where we stress that no prior experience is necessary.” Wednesday’s session was held in Clanwilliam and attended by 30 business owners.
“As start-up small contractors, our companies do not yet have financial resources or transport infrastructure,” said Granville Williams, of Grangray General Building and Civil Pty Ltd.
“So we need support and particularly information about the upcoming opportunities so that we don’t find out after other entities have already been awarded contracts and we miss out.”
Enrico Sampson of the Local Economic Development (LED) unit at the Cedarberg Local Municipality, who also serves on the Project Liaison Committee (PLC), reiterated the significance of the PLC in terms of not only having an oversight role, but also sharing information about the project to the various stakeholders in the community.
A second session was held in Piketberg later the same day.
Joubert Skei, owner of Mncotshe Construction and Cleaning Projects, lauded Sanral for the information sessio: “We are incredibly grateful to Sanral for bringing this opportunity to us in the Bergrivier. We desperately need project participation opportunities, but first we need training on how to submit responsive, competitive and profitable tenders.”
Through various MOUs Sanral prioritises training and capacity building of SMMEs, both by the main contractor and industry bodies such as the South African Forum of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC).
Theron said it was encouraging to see locals taking part. “We will address the training needs and are hopeful small businesses in these communities will recognise the significant economic injection that comes with a project of this magnitude and submit their tenders for the relevant remaining packages,” she said.
