LIMPOPO – According to the agreement, RAL will contribute R37,5 million to the project and Northam Platinum will cover the difference.
This comes after RAL CEO, Maselaganye Matji, and his Northam counterpart, Paul Dunne, signed the agreement at the platinum mining company’s headquarters in Midrand recently.
Matji hailed the agreement as a sign of confidence in the work the agency is doing to bring about development by connecting communities to economic opportunities through the development of roads.
He said this is one of a number of partnerships signed to date.
“The processes of appointing contractors will follow this agreement. The first stage is to enter into this agreement and after that, we start with implementation,” said Matji.
He said he viewed the partnership as a victory for what he calls ‘the village economy’.
“If the road is passing through 10 villages, businesses or businesses-to-be from those villages must benefit, including labourers,” he said.
Matji explained that in the past financial year, they spent about R164 million in all their projects on SMMEs in their project areas.
“We take the empowerment of our people seriously.
“Now that we are producing millionaires in the villages, we must train them about business as it doesn’t help giving them that if they can’t move forward,” he explained.
Northam Platinum CEO, Paul Dunne, said while mining firms sometimes get the bad rep for the work they do, the upside is that they bring jobs, roads and houses to communities.
“Roads are not cheap and they are generally big projects. This is a great opportunity to leverage some goodwill and provide real economic impact to communities,” he said. The upgrading of the gravel road will also be a boost for communities as there are two schools along that road and children commute by bus.
