Name of the Project
N2 Wild Coast Toll Road (N2WCTR) megabridge projects.

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

The Msikaba bridge is located on the N2, which connects the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces, and traverses the cities and major towns of Cape Town, George, Port Elizabeth, East London, Mthatha, Durban and Ermelo. This includes a new greenfield section of 112 km between Port St Johns and Port Edward.

Project Owner/s
South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral).

Project Description
The Msikaba and Mtentu bridges form part of the N2WCTR project.

The 1.13-km-long Mtentu bridge, which includes a 260-m-long main span, will be one of the longest main-span-balanced cantilever bridges in the world. Only ten prestressed concrete girder bridges worldwide have a main span of 260 m or longer. Reaching heights of more than 220 m above the river valley, it will displace the Bloukrans bridge, in the Western Cape, as the highest bridge in Africa and the southern hemisphere. The 141-m-tall Pier No 9 will also be the tallest bridge pier in Africa and the southern hemisphere.

Being one of the longest main-span-balanced cantilever bridges and one of the highest bridges in the world makes the construction of the Mtentu bridge a technically highly challenging project. The remote location and local social dynamics add to this complexity.

The 580-m-long Msikaba bridge will be the longest main span bridge – constructed using the cable-stay method – in Africa, and the second-longest main bridge span in Africa after the Maputo-Catembe suspension bridge, in Mozambique. With a deck height of 194 m above the river valley, Msikaba will become the third-highest bridge in Africa and the 133rd highest in the world. The Msikaba bridge cable-stay design will ensure that the construction of the bridge will have no direct impact on the pristine gorge environment almost 200 m below, which is one of the environmental requirements in building the bridge.

Potential Job Creation
Sanral N2 Wild Coast Road Project manager Craig McLachlan said in April that R278-million had been paid to date to local small-, medium-sized and microenterprises, including 28 suppliers, 52 service providers and 27 subcontractors, that are undertaking work on the Msikaba bridge project.

“In addition, R45.9-million has so far been paid in wages to over 300 skilled and unskilled labourers drawn from the surrounding local communities, as well as the surrounding local municipalities of Port St Johns, Ingquza Hill and Winnie Madikizela Mandela.

“We are proud to say that we have already exceeded one of our targets on the Msikaba Bridge project.

“The targeted labour for youth is 30% of the total projected wage bill and we have . . . achieved 102.6% of this target. So far, we have also achieved 45.4% of the target for women employment,” McLachlan has said.

Once the road is completed, ongoing maintenance work will create another 900 direct, full-time jobs and about 19 000 indirect jobs.

Capital Expenditure
The Msikaba bridge project will cost an estimated R1.65-billion and the Mtentu bridge project R2.5-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
The N2WCTR project started in 2011; however, the major greenfield portion of the route between Port St Johns and Port Edward started only in 2016.

Provided that there are no significant delays on the Mtentu bridge project, the construction period is estimated to be 49 months, including a four-month mobilisation period.

The Msikaba bridge project is in the early construction phase, following an extended initial ramp-up period. Construction started in January 2019 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

Latest Developments
The Msikaba Bridge project is expected to be completed in May 2024.

Sanral says the tender for the N2 Mtentu Bridge project is “awaiting announcement by its board”.

The project failed at its first attempt to get off the ground, owing to conflict within the community and at the project site, and was retendered.

Meanwhile, Sanral has said it will invest more than R76-million in seven new contracts to benefit local communities that live along the N2 Wild Coast Road Project.

The seven new subcontracting tenders include a bush-clearing project east and west of the Mzimvubu river, repairs to the R61 between Ndwalane and Ntafufu roads, repairs to the main roads through Lusikisiki, repairs to the R61 between Lusikisiki and Zalu road, repairs to the R61 between Bukazi and Flagstaff, as well as repairs to the Flagstaff town bypass and road to Holy Cross. 

An additional four first-tier tenders have also been advertised by Sanral in the region and are under adjudication. These are the rehabilitation of the Ingquza Hill Memorial road, upgrading roads in Ntlavukazi village, upgrading the DR8004 road from the R61 national road to Bambisana Hospital road, as well as upgrading the road from Bizana to Mbongweni village. 

These tenders should be awarded by September.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Suppliers
Concor Mota-Engil JV (Msikaba bridge contract); HVA Joint Venture (Msikaba and Mtentu bridge consultants comprising CH2M and SMEC); V3 Consulting Engineers (lead consultant – Ndwalane to Ntafufu and Kulumbe to Mtamvuna river); ERO Engineers (lead consultant – Ntafufu to Bambisana turn-off); Naidu Consulting (lead consultant – Bambisana turn-off to Lingeni); Aurecon Rohm consortium (lead consultants – Lingeni to Msikaba); Knight Piesold (lead consultant – Msikaba to Mtentu); and KBK Engineers (lead consultant – Mtentu to Kulumbe).

Contact Details for Project Information
Sanral project manager Craig McLachlan, tel +27 41398 3200 or email MclachlanC@nra.co.za, or for technical aspects Sanral bridge network manager Edwin Kruger, tel +27 12 844 8000.