Although the high profile Chapman’s Peak project was completed on time and opened with a flourish at midnight on December 19 last year, units of the construction Joint Venture

consisting of Concor, Haw & Inglis, Jolinde and JPK Construction have remained on site handling the tidying up stages of the project until the end of March.

"Now that this work has been completed, I think the members of the Joint Venture can point to a difficult job very well done, one which was of great importance to the country’s tourist industry, and which inevitably attracted a great deal of critical interest," says Marcus Munitelli, project manager of the Chapman’s Peak construction Joint Venture, and Concor’s regional manager in the Cape.

Tackling the problems caused by rockfalls in the past, which caused the closure of Chapman’s Peak for over two years, upgrading the road and rendering it safe once more for a large volume of tourist and some local traffic, was a considerable task. It took much careful study and consideration before the right course of action was decided upon - but the finished product has won widespread approval.

Munitelli had warm praise for the work of the members of the Joint Venture, and for the professional consultants on the project. These were: dynacon (structural consultants), Stewart Scott (structural consultants), Melis Du Plessis (geotechnical engineers)· ZLH (structural engineers), Mala, the lanscapers, and OVP Architects.

"There was always an excellent spirit of co-operation between members of the Joint Venture and the various consultants, with everyone working together as a team. Without that co-operation the project would have been a great deal more difficult," he comments.

Although the main project is now complete, Concor, the leading partner in the Joint Venture has an ongoing commitment as concessionaire for the operation and maintenance of the toll road and supervision of the protective measures on the rockface and the mountain above, and the surroundings.

This, Munitelli says, requires a full-time complement of 70 people.

In addition to this, they have a similar function at the Huguenot Tunnel, requiring a staff of 90 people, and for the Cape Point funicular railway and at Tsitsikama along the Cape south coast.

To supervise these contracts means that Concor needs to have a permanent presence in the area - but in addition, the company sees opportunities in the local upsurge in the building of high rise residential blocks, commercial and industrial premises and the development of infrastructure, especially roads.

As a result, the decision has been taken for Concor, one of the country’s major construction companies, to re-establish itself in the Cape, basing itself at the offices in Hout Bay used by the Chapman’s Peak consortium. At this stage they will be leaner than when they were last here, but there is ample room for expansion as new work comes on stream.

The company is a partner in a consortium pitching for the Protea Parkway project, involving the upgrading of 100 kms of the N1 from Cape Town as far as Worcester, and 70 kms of the N2 to the mountains above Somerset West, and is also actively seeking other opportunities.

In addition, they have identified opportunities in areas such as the Strand, the Waterfront, the Cape Town CBD, the Tygerberg CBD and along the West coast, and are actively pursuing them.