Provincial road infrastructure delivery agency Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL) has identified four opportunities for potential future strategic partnerships, which are valued at an estimated R1.12-billion, based on a preliminary technical assessment.
This follows the RAL's stakeholder engagement and fundraising session with the local business and mining sector in the Sekhukhune district municipality on February 16.
The fundraising, the RAL stated on Monday, was aimed at addressing a 1 173 km backlog in road works in the Sekhukhune district, with the total road network in Sekhukhune currently sitting at 2 654 km.
The targeted roads for strategic private sector partnerships are roads D4220 at the evaluated cost of R600-million; the steel bridge at intersection of the D2219 and the R555, at an estimated cost of R81-million; D737, at an estimated cost of R40-million; and D4180, at a cost of about R400-million.
Five mines in the area have agreed to help the RAL upgrade 24 km of the D4220, as well as the single-lane steel bridge at the intersection of the D2219 and the R555.
Another two mines will include potential partnerships with the RAL in their next social labour plan (SLP) consultations with local communities.
Meanwhile, rehabilitation work has started on the upgrade of 17 km of the D737 from Steelpoort to Lapeng Lodge.
Further, Anglo American Platinum has contributed R57-million for Phase 1 of the upgrade, from gravel to tar, of 17.6 km of the D4180, a parallel road to R37, from Ga-Sealane to Ga-Selepe to Atok Mine to R37.
During Friday's fundraising events, RAL CE Maselaganye Matji highlighted the success of its public-private partnership approach to developing road infrastructure in the province, stating that the agency has, since 2015, spent R2.85-billion on 22 projects in Sekhukhune.
At current estimates, the RAL will need R160-billion to maintain and upgrade the entire road network in Limpopo, and it currently gets under R1-billion in funding from the provincial treasury.
"We are trying our best with limited resources to address the infrastructure delivery in the province," said Matji.