Raubex Construction is currently busy with the Musina Ring Road project that diverts the N1 around the town of Musina in Limpopo for client South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (SANRAL). Wilhelm du Plessis spoke to Chris Dijkstra, the Contracts Manager about the complexity of taking over an existing contract, the impact of the lockdown and working on a project that requires the construction of 30 new houses.
The project was originally started by Basil Read in March 2016, but it was taken over by Raubex Construction (Raubex) on 3 December 2019 which was some time after Basil Read went into business rescue. Scheduled to be completed in January 2022, it is now conceivable that here will be delays related to the Covid-19 lockdown.
“The main purpose of the Musina Ring Road is the diversion of the N1 around Musina. It involves the relocation of protected tree species such as Baobab, Shephard and Marula Trees, relocation of the Musina landfill site, construction over undermined area, construction of five major bridge structures (including the feature bridge at the Nancefield interchange), two interchanges, major earthworks including large cuttings and fills, layerworks and asphalt surfacing (including on and off ramps), 6 km of secondary roads, stormwater infrastructure, subsoil drains, road furniture (such as guard rails, road signs, and fences) and noise barrier walls” explains Dijkstra. Other elements include the construction of 30 new houses to which affected residents will be relocated.
The project has a value of R350-million (excluding escalation, rise and fall and VAT).
Taking over an existing contract
Dijkstra says the takeover of an existing project comes with complexities. “One is bound by the rates of the previous contractor. However, during tender stage, all tenderers were given the opportunity to calculate a delta amount to be added to the contract price.”
There were also various labour issues that had to be dealt with. “There were some unresolved issues with some of the subcontractors, plant hire companies and suppliers that were used by Basil Read. Some of them assumed they would be used by Raubex purely because they were used by the previous contractor. At the same time there was pressure from local labour, that was employed by Basil Read, to be employed by us too,” Dijkstra explains.
The project employs 256 people. Senior management includes Hennie Kotze (SANRAL’s Project Manager), Martin Boonstra (Consulting Engineer – KBK Engineers) and the Contract Manager from Raubex Construction, Chris Dijkstra. The KBK Resident Engineer, Ben Botes and Raubex Contract Representative, Mike Bennett are based permanently on site.
At grassroots level Raubex had to deal with complaints from the local community who were dissatisfied by the long disruption and who had to contend with an unfinished project close to their residences. There was also pressure from councillors over new housing, and the relocation of people whose houses will be demolished, once new housing has been constructed.
“Areas – including some of the road works – were overgrown and contaminated. There was damage to some of the works by the public caused by driving on the unfinished roads, while sound walls had been vandalised. We were unsure of the condition and quality of incomplete work, especially levels, densities and quality of the layers on the roads – although KBK kept a detailed as built record of the works completed by Basil Read. We had to inspect the support work and timber formwork for some of the bridge decks – and some had to be rectified and replaced,” Dijkstra explains (two of the five bridges had been partially completed by the previous contractor).
New designs for concrete and for stabilising had to be done by Raubex in conjunction with the consulting engineer (KBK Engineers) as the cement that was used originally was no longer available.
To ensure the environment remains largely unaltered, an environmental plan was submitted before construction started. “The site has a full-time environmental officer and regular environmental audits are done by an external environmental consultant which strives to ensure that indigenous and protected Baobab, Shepherd and Marula trees are not damaged or relocated where necessary,” says Dijkstra.
On track
Despite these initial difficulties, Dijkstra says the project is progressing well. “Most of the repair work to the earthworks, bridges and stormwater infrastructure has been done.” At the time of writing work was progressing well on the mass earthworks, layerworks, stormwater infrastructure, bridges and the noise barrier wall, however all work ceased due to the COVID-19 lockdown. “Based on the remaining works, the project on our programme is 20% complete,” says Dijkstra.
Overcoming challenges
Dijkstra says the biggest challenge was the unknowns in taking over a project from a contractor and obtaining sufficient and sound information from which the remaining works could be planned around. “We overcame this by using the information provided by members of the supervision team that were involved with the project previously. We also did thorough testing and investigation in most areas before continuing.”
Raubex communicated with service providers at an early stage in the project to ensure that existing services could be relocated avoiding delays the project. “We had to identify and order alternative materials than those originally used earlier. We had to design a bypass and traffic plan to divert traffic around the tie-ins and get approval for this so that this work can be done as safely and cost effectively as possible.”
The construction of the piers (hands) at the Nancefield bridge – one of five bridges on the project – poses a major challenge. This bridge, the first under which visitors from Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa pass when entering South Africa via the Beit Bridge border post, has a unique welcoming design feature. It has a deck resting between a pair of open hands. “Specially designed and manufactured steel formwork will be used to construct the hands and fingers. The setting out and checking of the formwork before casting will be crucial due to the small margins of error. Similarly, the sequencing of casting the concrete and the methods of obtaining the required textured concrete finish will be carefully planned,” adds Dijkstra.
“A copper mine shaft has to be bridged but the time period required to do the investigation and design of the support is unknown until the excavation to roadbed level is complete,” says Dijkstra.
In addition to the technical complexities, residents whose houses are in the way of the works will have to be relocated. Those houses close to the works which will not be impacted, runs the risk of being damaged due to blasting. “To alleviate this we try to remove rock by ripping using a dozer or an excavator with a demolition hammer. When drilling and blasting is used as a last resort, we notify the nearby residents, service owners such as Eskom, the police and local municipality, inspect the houses and monitor the blast using vibrometers,” says Dijkstra.
To reduce the traffic noise to home owners, a thin asphalt layer (Ultra-thin friction course) will be applied to the road passing the houses while a sound wall will be constructed on both sides of the N1.
A large part of the contract is located within and nearby the Nancefield community where most members suffer from unemployment or low-income households. “We are in the process of identifying and shortlisting possible CSI projects. We believe that the current COVID-19 pandemic will have dire consequences on the Musina community at large. We will most probably make use of this opportunity to identify areas of particular need,” says Dijkstra. Despite this, the project aims to create local employment and provide a financial boost to the local business owners which are directly or indirectly involved in the project.
Digital contract management
“Our contract management methodology is extremely flexible and easily adopts to the diverse needs, requirements and constraints of the construction industry. We apply world-class contract management software and have developed an in-house contract management framework on a secure web-based cloud collaboration platform. This framework enables us to track and capture project data in real time from any device, therefore allowing correct and decisive decision making based on timeous and accurate information obtained in real time from site.” This platform allows Raubex to collaborate with the engineer and client in real time which expedites the overall approval process as sections of work are only approved once the consultants are satisfied that all the criteria are met with regards to material specification, visual acceptability, density or compressive specifications, level and alignment requirements.
Drone technology
Dijkstra says that they have implemented monthly and where possible weekly drone aerial photography in order to monitor progress and keep accurate photographic records of the construction site. “We also use this for our planning and design purposes – for instance where traffic needs to be temporarily accommodated. We have also implemented aerial surveys in which the drone is pre-programmed to fly a specific route and take sequential photographs. These images are stitched together to create a contour model of the site from which survey data is extracted. This enables us to generate accurate quantities of large areas in less time,” Dijkstra says.
Risks
Dijkstra says project disruption is the biggest risk. “The nationwide lockdown will have a significant time and financial impact on the project,” he says.
“Working in and around communities makes the project more prone to possible strikes and/or disruptions.”
