Sanral head, Reginald Demana has unveiled that Package 4 of the N2 Wild Coast Road (N2WCR) project in the Eastern Cape has commenced. WBHO-Edwin Construction Joint Venture will implement this phase during the 2-billion stage of the project. Package Four herein envisages the construction of N2WCR Section 20 starting from Lingeni intersection up to Msikaba bridge. Moreover, in the N2WCR project, there are two gargantuan bridges known as Msikaba and Mtentu; nevertheless, the general construction in the project has seven principal packages. Demana adds that mobilisation for Package 4 construction is expected to take four months before construction actually starts in January. In the same context, 35% of the money (R700-million) has allocated to contract value for local enterprises. Demana says, although the positive impacts of the N2WCR project will not be felt until construction is over, it has had “substantial economic-social impact on communities.
Project overview
”This developmental project covering a distance of 110km across the Eastern Cape is not without its hitches such as the engineering issues that may be encountered but one cannot deny the fact that we are on a steady progress. On his part, Demana avers, “The primary purpose of the N2 Wild Coast Road… Is due to the fact that it’s a connector road. ”“It joins four provinces; the N2 which starts at Cape Town in the Western Cape, going through the Eastern Cape in the further stretch to KwaZulu- Natal and ends at the Mpumalanga which connects to neighboring Mozambique. ”The importance of the investment here in the Wild Coast is that it cuts down the distances between Port St John’s and Port Shepstone by 80 km.
Scope
“It also cuts down the travelling time up to 2hrs depending on the type of car being used,” added Demana. “Closely related to this, it has shorter distances that would have been used for transportation, and thus the reduction of transport costs It hardly has steep slopes, hence safe for human and animal settlement. From the Total President Demana remarks it is clear that progress is ongoing with construction for the Msikaba bridge advancing well; construction of the bridge deck is expected in early next year and at the same time as installation cables. He notes that the task has faced some hitches in its implementation due to the lack of the right cables in the market as well as some complications with the engineering work.
The Package 5 contract costing 5 billion dollars includes the construction of the road from the Msikaba bridge (north bank) to the Mtentu bridge (south bank) launched last April and scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2027. According to Demana, R250-million has been invested on the contract involving the Mtentu Bridge project. Packages 1, 2 and 3 of the N2WCR are still in the design phase as the competiting N2WCR system is developing; the implementation of packages 1, 2 and 3 of the N2WCR will take place soon according to Sanral.