A total number of 49 schools were handed over to contractors. The Committee was informed that contractors were on site setting up their site offices and would soon commence with the digging of trenches. Drawings were given to the respective contractors on 20 January 2012. The meeting was informed that seven of these contractors came directly from the Eastern Cape Province. A further five came from the Gauteng Province and two of these had joint ventures in the Eastern Cape Province and two contractors came from the KwaZulu-Natal Province with joint ventures in Mthatha. Another contractor came from the North West Province while another came from the Limpopo Province.