Name of the Project
N2 Wild Coast Toll Road (N2WCTR) megabridges project.

Location
The bridges will be built over the Msikaba river gorge and the Mtentu river gorge, both near Lusikisiki, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.

Client
South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral).

Project Description
The Msikaba and Mtentu bridges form the backbone of the greenfield portion of the N2WCTR project – one of government’s 18 Strategic Integrated Projects. 

The greenfield section of the N2WCTR extends from Port Edward, in KwaZulu-Natal, through Lusikisiki, to Port St Johns, in the Eastern Cape. 

This section is a new road and, without the bridges, will not be able to be completed.

The 1.13-km-long Mtentu bridge will be one of the longest main-span-balanced cantilever bridges in the world. 

Reaching heights of more than 220 m, it will displace the Bloukraans bridge, in the Western Cape, as the highest bridge in Africa and the southern hemisphere.

The 580-m-long Msikaba bridge will be the longest main span – constructed using the cable-stayed method – in Africa, and the second-longest main bridge span in Africa after the Maputo-Catembe suspension bridge, in Mozambique.

The Msikaba bridge cable-stay design will ensure that the construction of the bridge will have no direct impact on the pristine gorge environment 200 m below, which is one of the environmental requirements in building the bridge.

Pedestrian sidewalks and view sites, which will provide special viewing points for tourists, will be built on either side of the bridges.

Potential Job Creation
Semiskilled and unskilled labour will be sourced locally, and local small, medium-sized and micro enterprises contractors and suppliers of goods and services will be used to meet the required contractor participation goals on the two projects, creating much-needed jobs and local economic development.

Value
The Mtentu bridge will cost R1.634-billion and the Msikaba bridge will cost an estimated R1.65-billion.

Duration
Construction of the Mtentu bridge started in January and is scheduled to take about 40 months.

Construction of the Msikaba bridge is due to start in February 2019. The project is expected to take 33 months to complete. This excludes an initial three-month ramp-up period starting in October this year.

Latest Developments
The Aveng Strabag joint venture (ASJV) has decided to terminate the Mtentu bridge contract.

ASJV says it has been unable to work at the project site since October 22, owing to continuing community unrest and protest action, related to community demands on Sanral.

Sanral believes that its engagement process with the community has reached a stage where work can continue safely. ASJV does not, however, share Sanral's view.

“The ability to execute works safely and in accordance with international best practice is ASJV’s primary concern,” says Aveng in a statement.

“Aveng and Strabag, on the strength of their combined local and international experience and track-record in complex bridge projects, have come to the reasoned conclusion that the ASJV cannot resume the execution of the works given the risk to the safety and wellbeing of its personnel and has, therefore, elected to terminate the Mtentu contract following consultation with external legal advice.”

Aveng says ASJV has provided two bonds – contract securities – for Sanral in connection with the Mtentu contract. These are a R245.1-million performance guarantee and an R81.7-million retention money guarantee, both in favour of Sanral.
 
“In terms of the Mtentu contract, although the contract securities are typically described as ‘on-demand’ bonds, Sanral's rights to make a call against the contract securities are strictly regulated and limited in terms of the Mtentu contract itself,” Aveng has noted.

“ASJV is taking steps to protect the position of Aveng and Strabag in this regard,” Aveng states.

The termination took effect on February 6.

Sanral has strongly rejected the JV’s assertion that the Mtentu bridge site has presented unsafe working conditions.

“[Sanral] has, as of today [February 5], issued a notice of termination to the contractor for abandoning the site,” the agency has said in a statement.

“The South African government . . . at national and provincial level, has done all that was necessary to ensure that it was safe for the contractor to return to site.

“Sanral has been engaging with the contractor to return to site to resume work since the beginning of 2019.

“The contractor is not being transparent about its true reasons for abandoning site, but Sanral suspects that the publicly known financial challenges of Aveng may have contributed to the decision.”

Aveng is disposing of its loss-making construction business – Grinaker-LTA – which was tasked with building the Mtentu bridge.

Sanral says it will do “everything in its power to protect its interests”, adding that it will engage National Treasury to determine the quickest way of resuming construction of the bridge.

The agency adds that it will also investigate the conduct of the contractor based on allegations made by the community.

The Mtentu bridge contract uproar forms part of a broader picture of community dissatisfaction with the scope and route of the proposed N2 Wild Coast road project.

Wild Coast community body, Sustaining the Wild Coast (SWC), has said in a statement that the greenfields section of the proposed N2 toll road project is routed through an “area of critical biodiversity, including fertile farmland and estuaries upon which local people depend for their livelihoods. It is a landscape of rolling grasslands, indigenous forests and spectacular gorges that support a colony of the endangered Cape Vulture. Alternative routes for the proposed N2 would not have the same devastating impacts on the environment and cultural landscape”.

SWC indicates that the community has, since 2001, begged the then Sanral CEO Nazir Ali to build a road that would benefit local communities and not just the trucking industry.

“The proposed N2 toll road has never been in the best interests of the Mpondo communities of the Eastern Cape.”

SWC notes that Sanral should withdraw from the N2 project and “consider more carefully what role government should play in enabling sustainable development that will most benefit Eastern Cape citizens.

“Any negative economic fallout of [the] withdrawal from bridge construction must not be blamed on those who have been opposed to the Wild Coast toll road, but rather on the failure of government to engage meaningfully with the alternative routes proposed, and residents who will be most affected by toll road construction.”

Sanral indicated in January, however, that much of the protests concerning the Mtentu bridge had been about the allocation and scarcity of jobs on the project, rather than the proposed routing of the highway.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Aveng Strabag joint venture (Mtentu bridge contract).

On Budget and on Time?
As at January 29, 2019, the Mtentu bridge project was about six months behind schedule.

Contact Details for Project Information
Sanral project manager Craig Mclachlan, tel +27 41398 3215 or email MclachlanC@nra.co.za or for technical aspects Sanral bridge network manager Edwin Kruger, tel +27 12 844 8038 or email krugere@nra.co.za.