Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our half year results presentation. I would like to introduce the team sitting here with me. I have Dirk Lourens, our Chief Operating Officer, Samuel Odendaal, our Group Financial Director, Grace Chemaly, our Company Secretary and Legal Advisor, and myself, Felicia Msiza, as the CEO. We will now go through the half year results presentation. The structure of our presentation will be as follows: I will take you through the period in review, our divisions in terms of the changes during the financial year, our group financial highlights, divisional reviews from an operational point of view. We will also then take you through our order book, where we currently are, and we'll also give you progress in terms of our major projects, and I will then conclude. Let's look at the period in review.
The group is pleased to present a strong set of results for the six months ended 31 August 2022. Our teams from all four divisions supported this pleasing group performance, which was achieved against a backdrop of tough macroeconomic and inflationary pressures, as well as supply chain constraints. I must state that this is the best first half results in the history of Raubex. We commenced the period with a record order book of ZAR 17.1 billion. We are executing the order book profitably. In fact, we are working off ZAR 50 million rands a day. We have maintained a strong quality order book at similar levels. There have been high levels of tender activity, which have continued during the year to date. There's a number of projects that are still pending adjudication, which can increase the order book substantially if awarded.
The South African government's economic reconstruction and recovery plan is encouraging for us, and selective in taking on opportunities with a good risk versus reward ratio. So we are selective in terms of potential opportunities which are available. Operationally, the group performed well, considering the current economic outlook and inflationary pressure, as I've mentioned earlier on. We are pleased to report operating profit up 7.9% when compared to H2 from the previous year. Operating profit is up 26.4% compared to H1 from previous year. The increased profit is as a result of our diversified business model, and also is supported by good performance from Beitbridge Border Post, Bauba Resources, and Western Australia. Last year's strong performance by Australian operations, backed up with another strong six-month performance.
Financially, the group focused on managing the increased working capital demand and maintaining a strong balance sheet. Top management changes have been implemented successfully during the period. The new CEO and COO appointed and performing well. Because of growth, the group splits the divisions into four, and additional exco members were appointed to manage this growth. Management is settled in and continue implementing the group's strategy as set out in 2020. I will now take you through our divisions. In the prior year, the group reported three operating segments, being materials, roads and earthworks, and infrastructure. During the current year, the information reported to exco was amended in line with the restructuring of the executive committee to better reflect the increasing scale and complexity of the group.
Accordingly, the group now reports four operating segments, with the aggregation of segments, which is based on the nature of services and products provided to the market. Also, looking at production processes and the type of customer for the product and service. So in terms of the change, we now report four divisions. The first one is the Roads and Earthworks division. This division specializes in road construction and earthworks, as well as road surfacing and rehabilitation. This includes the laying of asphalt, chip and spray, surface dressing, enrichments, and slurry seals. Our Construction Materials division, it specializes in the supply of aggregates from commercial quarries, asphalt and value-added bituminous products. Moving on to the Materials Handling and Mining division. It specializes in materials handling and screening services and contract mining. The division is also a leading provider of mobile crushing solutions for remote project and mine sites.
And then lastly, the Infrastructure division. This division specializes in disciplines outside the road construction sector, including energy, with a specific focus on renewable energy, facilities management, telecommunications, housing infrastructure projects, and commercial building refurbishment and construction. So this is the structure that we will be reporting on going forward. In terms of more details on our divisions, from the top right, that is our roads and earthworks division. As I said, this division provides a full construction cycle. Ladies and gentlemen, we are the only company in South Africa that can deliver a full construction cycle. On the bottom right is the construction materials division that is responsible for commercial crushing, asphalt production, and bitumen, and those are the companies in that division. On the bottom left, it's the Materials Handling and Mining division, and those are the companies within that division.
And as I said, that division is responsible for mobile crushing and screening, contract mining, bulk commodity materials handling. And then lastly, on the top left is our Infrastructure division, with the companies that are in that division. And basically, that division is responsible for service offerings within retail and hospitality, building, electricity, housing, facilities management, telecoms, and water. I will then hand over to Sam to take you through the group financial highlights.
Thank you, Felicia, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen, from my side. Like Felicia was saying, said, management is very pleased with the good set of results for the six months. It was a record six months for the group. The previous best performance was the previous six months, H2 of 2022, so in all, a good 12 months for the group. We believe that our diversified business model assisted us in achieving these results we present today. If we go through the group financial highlights, revenue increased 23% to ZAR 7.38 billion. Operating profit also increased to ZAR 550 million. The group's operating margin is 7.5%. We will look at the segmental breakdown a bit later. EPS increased 16.1% to ZAR 1.59 per share.
The cash generated from operations was healthy at ZAR 589 million. The capital expenditure was ZAR 394 million for the six months, and we maintained a strong order book of ZAR 16-17 billion, and an interim dividend of ZAR 0.53 was, will be declared. We move on to the income statement. We already did look at the revenue and the operating profit in the highlights section. The increase in the finance cost, the net finance cost, is because of the increase in interest rates over the last few months and also the increased borrowings during the period. Profit after tax is ZAR 368 million, with the effective tax rate at more normalized levels, around 30%. The non-controlling interest portion of the profit was ZAR 76 million. Earnings per share is up to ZAR 1.618.
That's an increase of 15%. There was no change in the shares issued, but we did utilize treasury shares to cover the share option expenses during the six months. If we look at the statement of financial position, the slide is looking at the assets first. The non-current assets is up ZAR 5.3 billion. The biggest increase here is the property, plant, and equipment. Included in the PPE is mining infrastructure and stripping assets that was capitalized at Bauba Resources. Investments in service concessions is the ZAR 2.78 billion investment that we have in ZimBorders concession. Current assets is always, also up to ZAR 5.5 billion. The biggest increase here was the inventory levels, mostly the ore levels at Bauba Resources and the development land in the building division. Contract assets is higher because of the increase in retention and the work-in-progress levels.
A portion of the work in progress was also converted into cash after 31st of August. It had to do with the timing of invoices. The cash decreased to ZAR 1.35 billion. We will also look at the cash flow statement in a later slide, and that gives us total assets healthy at ZAR 10.8 billion. We move to the statement of financial position in equity and the liabilities. Equity increased slightly, up to ZAR 5.4 billion. Non-current liabilities, that's in line with the February number of ZAR 1.36 billion. Current liabilities increased to just over ZAR 4 billion. The biggest increase was the increase in borrowings, ZAR 603 million, and the trade and other payables is also up, but that's in line with an increase in the stock and trade receivables. The gearing ratio is around the 20% mark.
We move on to the cash flow statement. The net cash generated from the operating activities was ZAR 390 million. It's mostly attributable to the increased profits that was generated by Bauba and our ZimBorders project. The outflow in the investing activities of ZAR 428 million, that's mostly because of the CapEx spend for the period and down to associates and joint ventures. There was a net cash outflow in investing activities of ZAR 132 million, and included is the repayment of borrowings of ZAR 262 million. We also paid dividends of ZAR 111 million, and ZAR 116 million was for acquisitions. The bulk of the acquisitions was the increase in our stake in Bauba Resources. That stake was increased from 51% at year-end to around 74% at the end of August.
The result of it all is a net cash outflow of ZAR 170 million, bringing the cash balance to ZAR 1.35 billion at the end of the period. We move on to the segmental analysis. Inflationary pressures did have an impact on all the divisions. Biggest contributor revenue-wise was the Roads and Earthworks division, with a revenue of ZAR 2.9 billion. Biggest contributor to operating profit was the Infrastructure division, with ZAR 206 million. There was a good performance from Australia and then also ZimBorders in that division. The ZimBorders project is split 50/50 between the Roads and Earthworks division and the Infrastructure division. Operating margins in the mining division, 8.5%. Bauba was the biggest contributor to profit in that division. The operating margins in the Materials division, 6.2%.
That's mostly the profits from the quarry operations there. In the Roads and Earthworks and the Infrastructure division, margins is up 5.9%, or to 5.9% and 9.6% respectively. If we look at the geographical segments, the S.A. revenue is up, operating profit slightly down, and margins is also down to 4.1%. In the rest of Africa, turnover and profit is up significantly, and the bulk of that is because of our ZimBorders project. It was a steady performance from Australia, with increased turnover and profit and a good margin of 7.8% or 5%, which is in line with the more or less 8% guidance we've given the market. Next slide is the dividend declaration. We declared a ZAR 0.53 dividend per share.
That's in line with our normal three times dividend cover policy, and there's just the relevant dates for the dividend payments. I'm going to hand you over now to Dirk to take us through our operational overview.
Thank you, Sam. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I will take you through the divisional review section of our presentation this morning. Starting off, as Felicia has mentioned, with our newly formed Materials Handling and Mining division, revenue increased 53% to ZAR 1.3 billion, from H1 2022, ZAR 800 million. Our operating profit decreased 2.3% to ZAR 104 million, and that is almost in line with the previous H1 period of ZAR 106.9 million. Our operating margin decreased to 8.5% from a previous H1 2022, 13.3%, and that is predominantly due to the market pressure at Bela-Bela, our operations, commercial quarry in Botswana, as well as the slowdown of the contracting crushing in South Africa.
Our capital expenditure in this division was ZAR 222 million, which is a bit up from the previous H1 ZAR 141 million, and that is predominantly due to the recovery still of the moratorium that we had on the CapEx spend during the COVID period. Our order book of ZAR 2.7 billion, opposed to the ZAR 1.9 billion, is purely because of the fact that we've newly started up this division, where we provide material handling and processing services for the mining industry, contract mining, contract crushing, and then focuses on specialized resource ownership. Our strategic partners with our resource owners in the mining sector have started to pay dividends within this division. Our increased stake, as Sam has mentioned, in Bauba Resources, increased to 74.9%, and subsequent to year-end, reduced to 63%.
We've done a few other small acquisitions during this period within this division, looking at Attaclay, which specializes in. Then, if you look at our turnaround strategy at Bauba Resources. It had a positive impact on the production, with the bulk of the division's profit generated by Bauba. Our Mozambique operations at the TotalEnergies project is still suspended, and we hope that we will, in the beginning of the next year, be able to start up with the operations there. If we look at B&E International, we are proud to announce that our contract with Namdeb Diamond Corporation has been awarded, and this should give a good baseload for B&E in the interim period. Next, we'll look at the Construction Materials division.
This division, as mentioned before, specializes in the commercial aggregate for construction industry, as well as bitumen and asphalt. The revenue increased 7.3% to just north of ZAR 1 billion, opposed to the H1 2022 of 977.8, and that is a very slightly increase. Our operating profit decreased 27% to ZAR 65 million, opposed to the rounded ZAR 90 million of the previous H1 period, and the biggest influencer on this was the drop in the operating margin due to the cost of diesel in our northern region on the commercial aggregates, as well as margin pressure on our sales prices due to the lack of the infrastructure spend initiative by government. Our operating margin decreased to 6.2%, opposed to a 9.1% of the previous H1 period.
Capital expenditure increased to ZAR 73 from a previous ZAR 46.7, with the same reason as on the mining side. Order book of ZAR 1.12 billion, opposed to ZAR 870 million of the comparative period. The division specializes in the supply of materials, as mentioned, to the construction market, and includes supply of aggregate from commercial quarries, asphalt, and bitumen products. The increase in fuel price and the continued load shedding has had a negative impact on our profit margins in this division. The commercial quarries performed very well. The volumes increased, however, as mentioned, at a lower margin. Our asphalt volumes are slightly down from the comparative period, but we believe that with the new awards of the SANRAL projects in KZN, the flow-through for our construction materials division will have a positive impact.
The floods in KZN during April and May this year has also had a very negative impact on our margins. The volumes in the bitumen supply operations is enough to sustain break-even results, and as I've mentioned, we believe that the increase in activity from the SANRAL projects will increase our margins in this company as well. We had to import bitumen during the year, maintaining. And we had to maintain high stock levels and working capital demand. The demand should increase in the southern- summer months, and focus to manage stock levels down to more normalized levels. Our Roads and Earthworks division, our revenue increased 31.6% to ZAR 3 billion, opposed to a previous H1 of ZAR 2.24 billion. Operating profit increased to 59.5%, from ZAR 110 million- ZAR 175 million.
Our operating margin increased to 5.9%, as opposed to a previous period, H1 period, of 4.9%. Capital expenditure of ZAR 47.8 million against the ZAR 44.7 million in the previous period, so kind of the same capital expenditure for this year as the previous period. Order book of ZAR 7.3 billion, a little bit down from the previous period of ZAR 9.74 billion. This division focus on the efficient execution of the current order book, and as Felicia has mentioned, we're working the current order book down at ZAR 50 million per day. All the SANRAL projects awarded on the N3 are underway and performing very well, and they are well supported by various concession projects like the N3TC, TRAC and Bakwena concessionaires. Tender activity is still very high in this division.
We've got a good baseload of work over the medium term, and we've started looking to lift the margins in the new projects that we are tendering on. Significant value of unsecured contract opportunities still remain within the roads space, and it's still pending adjudication, and we believe we will be successful in a number of these projects. The division also jointly participates in the upgrading of the Beitbridge border post in Zimbabwe, together with the infrastructure division, and that's the reason of the good increase in profit margins. We look at the infrastructure division, the revenue increased 9.5% to ZAR 2.16 billion, opposed to around ZAR 2 billion of the previous period.
Operating profit increased 60% to ZAR 206.3 million as opposed to a previous H1 ZAR 225 million. Operating margin increased to 9.6%, previous year 6.6%. Capital expenditure of ZAR 51 million, against the previous period, ZAR 55 million. So the capital expenditure remains fairly flat within this division. It's not a highly capital expenditure division. Our order book of ZAR 5.3 billion increased from a ZAR 4.6 billion in the corresponding period. We've got a good secured order book in the commercial building and housing space, with specific reference to the student accommodation. Renewable energy operations had no major impact on this year's results, due to the delay in the award of the lead projects, and we believe that in the new financial year, we will see the benefits of the renewable energy IPP projects.
Experience increased activity in the private renewable energy sector, and we've shifted our focus to this market, and we believe that we should see imminent awards within this space in the coming months. Our commercial building projects and opportunities to participate in PPPs is coming to the fore, as well as the student accommodation I've mentioned, and affordable housing developments. This has grown the division over the medium term. The division also jointly participates in the upgrade and the expansion of the Beitbridge Border Post, and share in a 50/50 joint venture with the roads department. If you look at the rest of Africa, our international portion, and we split our international between the rest of Africa and Australia. Our revenue increased 54.5% to ZAR 1 billion, opposed to the previous H1 period of ZAR 650 million.
We doubled our operating profit from ZAR 126.7 million- ZAR 252.2 million, and as I've mentioned, this is predominantly due to the operations in Zimbabwe on the Beitbridge Border Post. The group has adopted a more conservative tendering strategy for work in Africa, and will only consider projects with suitable risk and rewards profiles. As I've mentioned, Mozambique is still suspended, and we believe that that will have an effect only in the second half of this financial year and in the next financial years. We recovered a portion of our bad debt from the Zambian Roads Development Agency during this financial year, and they will continue paying off this debt indefinitely. Award to the new projects in Africa, this is, as I've mentioned, very good news.
We've been awarded the Namdeb project in Namibia to the value of ZAR 1.2 billion. We've also been awarded, in a joint venture, the Senqu Bridge in Lesotho to the value of ZAR 2.4 billion, and this will substitute the- this project will substitute our operations at the Zim borders, Beitbridge Border Post. If you look at Australia, our revenue increased 15.7% to ZAR 1.07 billion, opposed to the previous period of ZAR 926 million. The results is fairly consistent and aligned with our expectations at this point in time with regards to our operations in Australia. Our operating profit increased 7% to ZAR 80 million, opposed to ZAR 75 million the previous period. Operating margin decreased slightly to 7.5%, opposed to 8.1%.
Our order book of ZAR 1.5 billion, opposed to a previous period 2022 of a ZAR 1.03 billion. Very good results were reported by Westforce Construction during this year, and all the projects are performing well. The new Raubex Construction business unit, focused on roads and earthworks, is now well-established and gaining market share. High levels of tender activity, driven by the mining sector, as well as the Western Australian government spend initiative in Western Australia, is adding to this increase in the order book. Wind and solar produced energy are gaining momentum in Western Australia, and Westforce has been awarded their first big major renewable energy project in Western Australia. Raubex will continue with a cautious approach to exploring the Australian market, and will look to grow its footprint at a measured pace.
Operations are to remain focused on Western Australia only. I'm going to hand back to Felicia now, to take us through the order book and the remainder of the presentation.
Thank you, Dirk. I will now take you through the split of our order book. So the order book, in terms of the financial year 2023, H1, compared to 2022 financial year end, we are still pleased with this solid order book. Our total order book in H1 is ZAR 16.4 billion, compared to ZAR 17 billion at year-end. International for H1 is at 34%, compared to 24% at the end of the financial year. This increase is due to the award of the Namdeb, and the Senqu River Bridge awards, as Dirk has mentioned earlier on. SANRAL at H1 is at 32% compared to 39% at year-end. A number of projects are still expected from SANRAL. For our private clients, at H1, it's at 25%, compared to 24% in the previous period, so relatively flat.
Concessions at H1 is at 4%, compared to 6% at year-end. Parastatals, provincial government, and local government and municipalities remains flat compared to the previous periods. Let's look at our order book history. This is a very interesting slide. This actually demonstrates how the group has actually grown over the years. We are, as I've mentioned earlier on, we are still maintaining a high order book, slightly reduced in H1, and if you look at the growth compared from for the past 5 years, you will see that the group has actually doubled in size. So our teams are energized to deliver on our ZAR 16.4 billion order book, and to also leverage, you know, on our healthy balance sheet, and also to take advantage of diverse opportunities for growth available to us.
Okay, next, I would like to take you through some of our major projects, just to show you the progress that we've made during this reporting period. Our flagship project, which is being delivered jointly by Raubex Building and Raubex Construction, the Beitbridge Border Post. The border post is well on its way to be handed over by the end of November this year, as per the contractual deadlines, and I'm pleased to report that it's within the 24 months construction period. Our teams are working hard to make sure that we deliver a quality border post. You can see from the picture itself. In terms of this phase one, the truck terminal, it was commissioned on the 17th of September in 2021. It facilitates the movement of an average of 800 trucks a day between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
This experience, in terms of the work that we've done at the Beitbridge Border Post, and the delivery, actually positions Raubex. It positions us positively for the South African border projects, which are imminent. Continuing still on Beitbridge Border Post, this is phase two, the bus terminal and the search facility. It was also commissioned earlier this year on the twenty-seventh of May, 2022. It is currently facilitating movement of roughly 10,000 people a day between South Africa and Zimbabwe. And still on our flagship project, this is phase three. I'm pleased to report that we've actually achieved all the significant milestone on this project. The pedestrian terminal is to be completed by the end of this month, in November. The terminal will facilitate all light vehicles and pedestrian travel between South Africa and Zimbabwe, and this is the last part of the border post.
As part of the Beitbridge Border Post, we built 220 houses in Beitbridge. You can see the development, which has been done by Raubex Construction and Raubex Building. These houses are for the border staff, and this project is scheduled to be completed by February 2023. The staff village will house all the border officials in order to manage and operate the newly constructed border post. And I must mention that we making sure that in terms of the finishings that are being put into these houses, it's only quality that is being delivered. And still on the modernization of the Beitbridge Border Post, our subsidiary company, Empa Structures, did the construction of the 11.4 million liter reservoir. Very impressive reservoir. It has a floating concrete rooftop, so water was utilized to float the roof into position in May 2022.
So this was part of the Beitbridge Border Post project. Okay, moving on in terms of our roads projects that we are currently executing. This is a project conducted by Raubex Construction. It's on the N3. It's the Cato Ridge in Durban. Cato Ridge was awarded in January 2021, with an estimated completion date in April 2025. It's a ZAR 1.4 billion project, which requires us to construct 19 kilometers of concrete barriers, and to also put down various base layers and 632,000 square meters of rock bridge. So that project is progressing very well. Still in Durban, project contract executed by Raubex Construction, Camperdown Bridge. If you can look at this picture, the bridge indicates the split in sections.
If you look at the northern part of the bridge, is section A, and south of the bridge is section B. So we constructed two pier footings on the southern side of the bridge, and these piers will serve as an upgrade to a new bridge earmarked for future expansion. The project is also progressing very well. Still with Raubex Construction, in KZN, this is the N3 Dardanelles. This project was awarded in October 2020, with an estimated completion date in May 2025. This ZAR 1.5 billion project requires Raubex to upgrade and to construct ramps and provincial roads, drainage, to also put up new structures, retaining walls, and widening of the N3 underpass structures, and also to put up gantry signs as well. Also, glad to report that the project is progressing well.
If we look at a project currently executed by Raubex KZN, the upgrading of the N2 freeway between the N2 in KwaMashu Interchange and Umdloti Interchange in Durban. This project was awarded in August 2021, with an estimated completion date in May 2026. This project is ZAR 1.5 billion, and as I said, it's an upgrade of the N2. So the upgrade, basically it involves the widening of both carriageways over an 11-kilometer stretch. It also includes structural rehabilitation, the bridge widening, electrical works, and earthworks as to accommodate the road widening. A project completed by Raubex Construction, the Musina Ring Road in Limpopo Province. This project was awarded in December 2019, and it was actually completed this year in August.
It's a ZAR 470 million project, which required us to complete 8-kilometer greenfield section on the N1 that takes traffic around the border town and elevates congestion in town. As you can see in the picture, that sculpture of, the hand with the fingers, that sculpture signifies a hand of friendship being extended between South Africa and Zimbabwe. We're very proud of, delivering this project. Over to our subsidiary, Roadmac Surfacing Cape. This is, a periodic maintenance project from Groote Schuur Interchange to Borcherds Quarry Interchange, and was awarded in September 2021, and this was completed recently in October 2022.
This is a ZAR 174 million project, which required the removal of the existing UTFCs, asphalt base repair and inlays, rehabilitation of the Modderdam off-ramp, and the structural works, which was done by our Empa Structures subsidiary company. And over to Bloemfontein, this is a project that we're busy with. Raubex Infra is the Bigen Africa Vista Park residential development. It was awarded in October 2021, with an estimated date of completion in February 2023. The project is ZAR 153 million. It's the affordable housing development that is funded by the Department of Human Settlements, where we were contracted to do the civil engineering construction, which includes roads, stormwater, water, and sewer reticulation, as well as electrical services. This project is progressing very well.
Raubex Building, this is the Belhar student housing facility, as Dirk mentioned earlier on, in terms of our student accommodation, and this is one of our flagship building projects, and this was actually completed on time and on budget as well. This includes 2,720 beds, and this project will provide accommodation for students of the University of the Western Cape. Moving on, a project by Raudev, Voliere development in Stellenbosch. This prestigious development on the northern outskirts of Stellenbosch, this is one of the group's own development, and I just want to emphasize that it is a model that we are proud of because it. It shows how a diversified group of companies can actually come together to achieve a common goal. So in terms of this development, four group companies participate in the development. Those companies are Raudev.
They are responsible for the development as a whole. Empa Structures is responsible for the civil and bulk services. Roadmac Surfacing takes for the internal roads, and Raubex Building doing the building works of the units. And by retaining all the different activities of the development and construction in-house, we as a group are able to generate a better profit margin from the project as a whole. This is our B&E International crushing. So this is a Powers creen train jaw crusher and mobile screening machine. This is the crushing that is currently being performed by B&E International. Moving on to Bauba, our mining company. This is our Kookfontein mine in North West Province. It's an open-cast chrome and PGM with associated waste, which is drilled and blasted, and then it is hauled by SPH Kundalila, who performs a turnkey mining service.
Again, this shows that the work that we're able to be done by the companies internally. I mean, when we started this project late last year, the ground was relatively flat, but you can see in terms of the work that we have done, in terms of the activity. Then National Asphalt, our Portland plant in Cape Town. This is the expansion project that we have just finalized, and this plant now supplies contracts and the commercial market with 200-ton state-of-the-art asphalt plants, and it meets the market demand and is currently supplying asphalts to the Western Cape Government, City of Cape Town, SANRAL, and local contractors. Moving on to our Western Australia operations. This is a project currently conducted by Raubex Construction in Australia, the CBH Shark Lake. This project was awarded in March 2022, with an estimated completion of November 2022.
This project reached practical completion on the seventeenth of October this year. So this shows the typical work that we are doing in Western Australia. Another project executed by Raubex Construction Australia, this is the Ennis Avenue, Royal Palm Drive intersection in Perth. This contract was awarded in April 2022. It was completed in July 2022, and this is a good example of the type of work we do for main roads. It's a tricky intersection upgrade, but it was a good source of revenue and profit for Raubex Construction Australia. Still in Western Australia, a contract by Raubex Construction. It was awarded in February 2022, with an estimation completion date being February 2023. This is first major roads project in Perth metro area, which is 30 minutes south of Perth CBD. This project is progressing very well.
And Westforce Construction in Australia, this is LWA Main Roads. So Westforce is part of this sub-alliance project with Main Roads, and the project scope includes two bridges in Welshpool on Leach Highway. One bridge, as you can see in the picture, is over the road and the other over rail. So this is a very successful alliance that we're happy with, and the project is on budget and on time as well. Okay, back to Southern Africa, as Dirk has mentioned, the award of the Senqu Bridge. So this is a three-year architectural picture of a three-year, ZAR 2.4 billion project for the LHDA, which actually kicked off a few days ago, and it's planned to accommodate the new Polihali Dam.
It consists of an 800-meter bridge with 90-meter highest pier. So the piers will be built using continuous slip-form work, and the deck with incremental launch. This is our senior management team during the site inspection in December. Another picture of the Senqu Bridge, of how it will look. It's an architectural picture, so we're very excited with this award. It actually demonstrates the experience that we have in terms of executing projects like this. We have come to the end of the presentation. In conclusion, the mining division will continue to pursue strategic partnerships with mineral resource owners to afford the group the opportunity to participate in various materials handling and processing opportunities over the medium and long term. In the Roads and Earthworks division, the current tender activity in the market remains encouraging.
Numerous contract opportunities, which have been tendered by the group, are still pending adjudication. There is a good base load of work which will enable higher margin opportunities. Increased activity will also benefit the group's material crushing operations, including the supply of aggregates, asphalt, and bitumen products. The Infrastructure division is well positioned to take advantage of the private sector and government's drive to increase power generation capacity. Opportunities to participate in a number of public-private partnerships are also being explored. We are looking to participate on a selective basis. In Western Australia, the construction sector continues to show high levels of activity, the mining sector being the main contributor. Government continues to implement their infrastructure development stimulus program in Western Australia, and we continue to explore the market and look for growth at a measured pace.
In Southern Africa, effective execution of Beitbridge Border Post upgrade in Zimbabwe continues. The Namdeb project in Namibia and the Senqu Bridge project in Lesotho will be our key focus. The group's strong balance sheet and healthy cash reserves positions it well for future growth and participation in the South African government's infrastructure roads program. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you. We will now give this opportunity for questions.
Thank you, Felicia. We've already had a few questions that have come through. The first question is from Marc ter Mors from Standard Bank. Could you confirm what Bauba's contribution was to top line and EBIT, and how many months were consolidated?
Marc, yes, it is, the top line was around ZAR 450 million, and it is, the EBITDA was around ZAR 75 million. The full six months, remember, we had already a 51% stake at the end of February, so it was already consolidated in, from February, so it's the full six months is consolidated.
Thank you, Sam. Then we have another question from Marc: When will Beitbridge be completed, and what progress on bidding has been made for further border work in South Africa and neighboring countries?
Marc, yes, the Beitbridge in totality must be completed during April 2023. However, the border post section must be completed by the end of November this year. And then with regards to the SA and neighboring countries border posts, the feedback we're getting that the PPPs will be advertised imminently, and we are ready to be looking at that and to execute successfully when that comes out as well.
Thank you, Dirk. The next question is from Lebohang Mofokeng, from Argon Asset Management. Can you please give us an update on the Bauba investment case? How are margins looking, and where could they land in the future?
Lebohang, yeah, I think I've already mentioned to Marc what the numbers are for that specific project. And look, the business investment case, we said from the beginning that it is to supply or give work to the rest of the group, SPH and B&E International, and that proved to be very successful. B&E International had, or SPH, had two projects that came to an end at the beginning of the year, and that was replaced by work at the Kookfontein mine for Bauba Resources. And we believe that the margins will continue to continue around the 10%-15% levels.
Thank you, Sam. The next question is from Roy Cokayne, from Moneyweb. It's quite a long question. I'm gonna read the whole question, and if you want me to repeat it, I'll repeat the separate sections. Did Raubex submit bids for any of the projects in the first round of tenders issued by SANRAL that were canceled, and for the second round of the re-advertised and now awarded tenders for four projects? If so, which projects, and what was Raubex's price compared to the winning bidder, and what was its ranking in terms of lowest priced bid for each tender?
Does Raubex have any concerns about the fact that the bulk of these awards were to Chinese companies, and the possible impact that this might have on Raubex's ability to win contracts in the future, its future order book, and its ability to submit competitive bids that still allow the group to achieve strong financial results and profits?
Thanks for that question, Roy. Yes, as we all know that the initial canceled contracts in May by SANRAL were actually re-advertised, and the DBSA was actually responsible for the re-advertisement, adjudication, and award of those contracts. So in terms of the re-advertised tenders. We actually responded to one, which was the Ashburton Interchange. This is the only bid that we submitted of the four SANRAL tenders, which were awarded, as in the public domain last week. Yes, we are, as Raubex, we are disappointed, obviously, not to have won the bid. We were looking forward to that. But we do believe that the DBSA have actually followed their supply chain management processes in terms of the award.
From how it looks like, it looks like the competitive bid was actually awarded based on the price, or the lowest price, that was given by that contractor. In terms of the impact of this might have on Raubex's ability to win contracts in the future, look, we're quite positive now to see that SANRAL is actually awarding tenders, which is positive, and we're looking forward to more awards by SANRAL. Whether this will affect our future order book going forward, look, we've always delivered quality on budget and on time in terms of our work with SANRAL, and we believe that our experience and our current balance sheet and the capacity that we have actually places us in a better position in terms of other contracts to be awarded by SANRAL.
Thank you, Felicia. The next question is from Marc again, from Standard Bank. Could you talk more about the industries that are leading with demand for private renewable energy, and what is the tender activity like?
Thank you, Marc. Yes, if you look at the biggest industry that is in demand for renewable energy at this point in time is the mining houses. As well, we see a lot of activity within the private municipalities, as well as big industries. And the tender activity is very buoyant at this point in time, hence we've moved our focus from the RE programs and looking more for the private renewable energy market.
Thank you, Dirk. The next question is from Nick Wilson, from News24. Nick says, "I read with interest about the group having to import bitumen during the period under review because of ongoing bitumen shortages. From what I understand, you have more than enough bitumen and, and because demand is high, you won't be left with too much in inventory. Is this correct? I was also wanting to find out whether the bitumen shortages are related to refinery closures. How long are the bitumen shortages expected to continue for? And are there any other material shortages the group is experiencing? If so, and why? How many divisions are affected by the bitumen shortages and other product shortages, if there are any others?
Thank you, Grace, for that question. So as we know that, we've had shortage of bitumen in the country, so as a group, we actually put together a strategy of, importing, bitumen, obviously due to the shortage in the country. And Tosas, our subsidiary companies, has actually successfully secured a supplier with good quality and reliable delivery of this bitumen. So currently, we have sufficient, volumes to help us to actually execute the work that we need to execute.
Thank you, Felicia. There's another question from Nick, from News24. I just wanted to clarify, the group talks about its strong balance sheet and healthy cash reserves, positioning it well for future growth and participation in the government's infrastructure build program. Has there been any updates from government about the rollout of these projects? Is there anything happening?
Thank you, Grace. Nick, yes, as you've seen through the results, we do have a strong balance sheet and healthy cash reserves. However, no, we haven't been seeing the government infrastructure build program coming online yet. We believe that there is a lot in the pipeline, and we will definitely look at it strategically with regards to margins and risk. We are ready to execute once this infrastructure drive has been fully rolled out by government.
Thank you, Dirk. The next question is from Marc again, from Standard Bank. Could you describe the group's competencies and past experience on complicated bridge projects? Is Senqu an EPC contract at a fixed price?
Marc, yes, so the group's competencies is with regards to the Senqu Bridge, it fits us like a glove. We are very well positioned to execute. As you would most probably know, Raubex started off as a brick bridge builder, right, 40 years ago. So no, we do have in-house the competencies to execute, and it is an EPC contract without... It's not at a fixed price.
Thank you, Dirk. The next question is from Michelle Gumede, from Business Day. Can you unpack how the introduction of a new segment strengthens the investment case for the group? Where are the prospects of growth for this division?
Which division are you referring specifically to? Look, I think the investment case is we're gonna, we have done quite a few of acquisitions in the mining industry, or in the mining sector. We have a budget of ZAR 500 million to spend. Currently, we have spent about ZAR 350 million, so there is still opportunity, but we are looking at scarce resources and not bulk commodities. So there is one or two small acquisitions that we are still looking at, but for now it's to secure work for the rest of the business in the group, and then also scarce resources that proves to work, prove to work for us at the moment.
Thank you, Sam. This seems to be the last question that has come through from Catherine Breytenbach at Granate Asset Management. Are you comfortable that the current levels of construction activity are sufficient to at least sustain your margins in roads and earthworks? And what will it take for margins to start opening up?
Thanks, Catherine, for that question. Yes, we are comfortable. As I've mentioned earlier on, most of the major SANRAL projects in KZN are running at full capacity, and we're actually performing well in that area. And again, this division is supported by various concessionaires, meaning the N3TC, Bakwena, and TRAC. In addition, obviously, the Beit bridge, Zimbabwe project being in here. Obviously, looking ahead in terms of margin, once SANRAL start executing, the work and the market is busy, we, we know that we'll be able to tender at better margins going forward.
Thank you, Felicia. It doesn't seem that any further questions have come through. I think that's the last.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.