OVERVIEW
Transport and logistics A private-public partnership is upgrading facilities at ports.
A
frica’s first plastic road is under construction near Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape. Finding ways of creating roads that can last longer is an important priority for South Africa which has yet to find a way to direct significant amounts of goods traffic back to the rail system and away from trucks. Scottish company MacRebur will partner with local firms Scribante Construction and SP Excel Holdings in building 1km of road to test the technology which adds waste plastics to asphalt for road construction to strengthen the bitumen binder. It is estimated that 1.8-million plastic bags could go into the building of just 1km of road. With the completion the Gauteng Freeway Project, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has been tackling big projects in every province: • the R573 east of Johannesburg, traverses three provinces and is used by 50 000 commuters daily, is to be upgraded • the R1.14-billion Mount Edgecombe interchange has been opened in KwaZulu-Natal • the R71 road out of Polokwane towards Moria in Limpopo carries more than 17 000 vehicles per day at Easter time. A new intersection and double carriageways have been constructed • the N2 between Mtunzini toll plaza and Empangeni has been made safer by the creation of a dual carriageway • the Wild Coast toll road project – the bridge over the Mtentu River will be the highest bridge in the country at 217m and will cost R1.6-billion South Africa has 21 000km of railway lines and 747 000km of roads, 325 019 heavy-load vehicles and the road freight industry employs 65 000 drivers. The logistics and courier market is worth R10-billion. There are 135 licensed airports in the country, 10 of which have international status. SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2020
86
SECTOR INSIGHT Plastic bags are being used in road construction.
Air Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) owns and operates the country’s 10 biggest airports. The company also manages airports in India and Brazil. Ekurhuleni wants to leverage the location of South Africa’s biggest airport, OR Tambo International, into a major economic asset. OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng (pictured) caters for more than 21-million passengers annually. The Cape Town International Airport recorded 10-million passengers in 2016. King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) is north of Durban.
