The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has awarded the R1.63-billion tender for the construction of the Mtentu megabridge to a joint venture comprising Aveng Grinaker-LTA and European construction firm Strabag.

Construction of the bridge, which forms part of the N2 Wild Coast (N2WC) road project, will start in early November and will take about 40 months to complete.

As the first of its magnitude in South Africa, the 1.1-km-long Mtentu bridge will be one of the longest main span balanced cantilever bridges in the world and will reach heights of about 220 m.  

The bridge forms the backbone of the greenfield portion of the N2WC road project – a national priority under coordination and direction of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission and one of government’s 18 Strategic Integrated Projects to support economic development and address service delivery in the poorest provinces.
 
The N2WC road project is expected to reduce the travel time between Durban and East London by up to three hours for heavy freight and will connect previously divided communities in the region.

The project is also expected to contribute to job creation in an area with an extremely high unemployment rate. Sanral’s direct job creation forecast is 1.8-million man-days or 8 000 full-time equivalent jobs over the construction period of four to five years.
 
More than R400-million will be allocated to wages for unskilled, semiskilled and skilled workers employed directly on the N2WC road project and a further R1.5-billion will be spent with local contractors and local suppliers of goods and services to the road and bridge construction projects.

“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,” Sanral communications manager Vusi Mona said in a statement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Sanral will retender the contract for the Msikaba bridge, which will be built near Lusikisiki, as the agency did not receive any fully responsive tenders the first time.
 
A new tender for the Msikaba bridge will be advertised within the next two to three months.