Durnford bridge sums don’t add up

TO try and point out how inefficient our local municipal engineering department is, here are some facts about the Durnford Road bridge.

The road was closed on 11 November 2023. Thereafter, an official WhatsApp message sent out on the 24th said the bridge would take 6 to 8 months to repair.

Local businessmen then called a meeting with the speaker and head of the department, which was held on the 28th on the failing bridge, whereby all expressed disagreement with the proposed timelines.

The businessmen had done their due diligence, having contacted a local engineering and construction company which, after examining the bridge, said the entire operation should take 4 to 5 weeks.

In reply, the engineering department said they had already appointed an ‘out of town’ construction company (which doesn't contribute to our local economy) and would not appoint a local one.

With this in mind, I would like to make the comparison between the rebuilding of Durnford bridge and the Tugela bridge, built in 1997.

The 412m long and 10m high Tugela bridge was built in a record 69 days, with average time to build a 27.5m span just 6 days.

The Durnford bridge is much shorter and lower, and should have been completed in a fraction of the time, but it’s now 11 weeks and nothing to show for it.

So no matter how you do the sums, they still don’t add up.

This excludes the fact that no one seems to know what the final cost will be, as it seems there is an open cheque book, since the job was not put out to tender.