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

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

Project Owner/s
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 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. Local small, medium-sized and microenterprises 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.

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

Planned Start /End Date
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 Mtentu bridge will be built, but a date has not been confirmed yet, Sanral engineering executive Louw Kannemeyer has said.

The Aveng Strabag joint venture (ASJV) in early February terminated the R1.6-billion bridge contract.

ASJV declared a force majeure, stating that it had been unable to work on the project site since October last year, owing to continued violent protests related to job and contract demands made against Sanral.

Sanral, however, believed the situation had stabilised sufficiently, through intervention at community level, for the joint venture to have continued operations on site.

Sanral and ASJV are currently locked in a legal process related to project guarantees.

“We will have to see how the legal process unfolds before we can decide the way forward,” Kannemeyer has indicated.

“The legal process will determine the mechanism used to appoint a new contractor for the Mtentu bridge.”

He reiterates that the bridge will be built.

ASJV clinched the contract in September 2017. The bridge was to be completed in May 2021.

Kannemeyer believes other international firms will prove willing to travel to the Wild Coast to build the structure, despite the challenges ASJV faced on site.

He acknowledges that building the Mtentu bridge is not an easy task.

Sanral believes the complexity of the project will result in a new, extended tender period of at least five months.

Compiling a new tender; the tender process; adjudicating, awarding, obtaining the necessary labour permits and mobilising and establishing the construction crew on site, are likely to take at least 12 months.

Legal issues may extend this period even further.

The second megabridge that forms part of the N2WCR project, the  R1.65-billion, 580 m cable-stayed Msikaba bridge, went out to tender twice before a suitable contractor was secured.

Concor Mota-Engil, which finally won the tender, is a joint venture between local civil engineering group Concor and international construction firm Mota-Engil.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Aveng Strabag joint venture (Mtentu bridge contract) and Concor Mota-Engil (Msikaba bridge contract).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

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.