Construction on the bus rapid transport stations for Phase 1A of the Rustenburg Rapid Transport (RRT) project was likely to start before the end of the year, with the construction tenders currently being adjudicated, RRT said on Tuesday.

Phase 1A of this four-phase project that ran along the R104 Swartruggens road was expected to start operations in March 2016, with the roadworks, pedestrian and cycle paths for this road already having been completed.

Further, RRT acting design and construction manager Amogelang Kgoathe pointed out that the RRT project had recently been granted a water-use licence, allowing the start of work on the two bridges that ran over water courses, while the supply of mine waste materials, which provided cost-effective fill for the road construction, had also been renegotiated.

The platinum strike earlier this year had a noticeable effect on the RRT construction programme, as the mine waste that was being provided at no cost and being used as fill for the roads could not be accessed during this period and the project, therefore, had to source alternative fill material at a cost that impacted on the project finance. 

“[However], we are now [again] able to recycle mine waste in road construction,” Kgoathe said.

Further, on corridor B of the project, or the R510 road, work on the road-over-rail bridge was progressing well with the road expected to be open for use by the middle of 2015.

“The considerable road construction from the taxi rank up to the bridge is also on track for completion by the end of 2014, although it must be noted that summer rains do play a considerable role in road construction schedules,” RRT said.

The R510 road construction from the rail bridge up to Boitekong turnoff was also under way and on schedule for completion by the end of next year, in time for the stations to be built and for Phase 1B of operations to start. 

The final section of the R510 bus lanes from the Boitekong up to Kanana also started in July, RRT said, and would include the rebuilding of the Bospoort Dam bridge to make it higher, wider and longer.

“With the start of the latest part of the road construction on the R510, we did have further community engagement over the allocation of jobs. We would like to remind all communities that we remain committed to ensuring that local residents are employed and benefit from the infrastructure investment, but that proper channels must be followed,” Kgoathe noted.

In addition to the roads and station construction programme, the design of the bus depots would also start this year, RRT noted.

“The consultants to be appointed will be designing both a temporary depot for our Phase 1A operations, as well as the permanent depots where the new bus operating companies will be located,” Kgoathe said.

As at the end of August this year, a total of 926 jobs had been created through the RRT project.