The SA National Roads Agency Limited has awarded a tender of more than R1.6bn for the construction of the Mtentu Bridge, which forms part of SANRAL's N2 Wild Coast Project.
Sanral said in a statement on Thursday that the tender was awarded to Aveng Strabag Joint Venture, a partnership between SA's Aveng and Austrian construction company, Strabag.
Sanral’s Communications Manager, Vusi Mona, said that construction of the bridge was set to start in early November 2017, and wass scheduled to last approximately 40 months.
“The tender, valued at R1.634 billion (incl. VAT), has been awarded to the Aveng Strabag Joint Venture (JV). The JV partners consist of Aveng Grinaker-LTA, a major South African-based construction company and Strabag, a leading construction company in Europe with extensive experience in major balanced cantilever methodology bridge construction,” Mona said.
He said as the “first of its magnitude in South Africa, the Mtentu Bridge will be one of the longest main span balanced cantilever bridges in the world and will reach heights of approximately 220m.”
“Critically, it is going to create employment and business opportunities in the area. The whole of the project will be a growth engine for the Eastern Cape both during and post construction,” Mona said.
The construction of the 1.1km long bridge in a remote location is a major undertaking that requires specialised engineering skills and building techniques.
Mona said that Mtentu Bridge forms the backbone of greenfields portion of the N2WC road project – a national priority under coordination and direction of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) and one of government’s 18 Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) to support economic development and address service delivery in the poorest provinces.
“By improving the travel time between Durban and East London by up to three hours for heavy freight and by providing a high mobility route through an area that is extremely isolated and underserved by road infrastructure, the route will have significant social and economic benefits and will act as a catalyst for local and regional development,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mona said that SANRAL announced that the tender for the Msikaba Bridge, set for construction near Lusikisiki, will be retendered due to the fact that the agency received no fully responsive tenders.
The SANRAL Board resolved that the roads agency was obliged to re-tender the bridge rather than condone matters of non-compliance found in the bids that were received, Mona said.
A new tender for the Msikaba Bridge will be advertised within the next two to three months.
The N2 Wild Coast Project is not without its detractors. A community organisation, the Amadiba Crisis Committee, has been opposing the toll road project as well as any proposed mining of titanium at Xolobeni, near Port St Johns.
