Concor Civils, a Murray & Roberts Construction company, is making progress on a multi-million rand contract awarded by Transnet Capital Projects for the construction of new concrete paving, civil services and electrical lighting at its City Deep Container Terminal. The terminal is currently being upgraded as part of Transnet’s rolling capital investment programme.

The container terminal at City Deep is known to be the largest “dry port” in the world and the City Deep area has been declared an IDZ (Industrial Development Zone) by the Gauteng government. “I believe this contract came our way based on our experience on a similar project at Coega, where we’re finalising a contract that called for the construction of a 560 m long quay wall and about 230 000 m2 of paving,” says Nelo Serman, contracts director at Concor Civils. “Our Coega contract is a Joint Venture with Hochtief for the construction of the Phase 2 civil engineering works and associated infrastructure for the new container terminal at the Coega Port. The contract was awarded by Transnet Limited in October 2007 and is due for completion in November 2012. On the City Deep Container Terminal project, we understand that our tender submission was also in line with the specific technical requirements required to do high production concrete work.”

The contract is scheduled for completion in May 2014 and includes the removal of 36 500 m3 of existing concrete paving, 110 000 m3 of earthworks, the installation of a new drainage system and all service ducting and manholes for lighting, fire mains, CCTV equipment, 360 t of mesh reinforcing and the placing of approximately 146 000 m2 of concrete paving.

“Although the client originally made provision for a 27 month project duration, our existing resources will allow us to complete it in 21 months, achieving genuine cost savings for Transnet Capital Projects,” Serman says.

“This is a fast-track project that, in the concrete phase, calls for the placing of about 1 000 m2 of concrete a day. The concrete we’re using has a higher than normal fly ash content to provide better workability and affords us more time to cut joints, as it has a slower strength gain.”