Rains delay Sicunusa-Nhlangano Road progress
NHLANGANO – The recent rains caused some delays in the progress of the under-construction Sicunusa-Nhlangano Road, specifically at the Mkhondvo Bridge.
This is what engineers working on the road told the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe, who was touring the roads yesterday.
The minister’s tour started at Nkonyeni, past Sigcineni, Ndzeleni, Mahlangatsha and Sibovu. It proceeded to the Nhlangano-Sicunusa Road then to the Jorbet-Nhlangano Road via Matimatima, as well to Chibidze Bridge and ended at the Siphambanweni-Nsalitje Road.
It was said that the purpose of the tour was to assess both damages caused by the rains and progress of the projects which are under construction.
Progress
The tour was led by Senior Roads Engineer Menzi Mbingo of the same ministry, along with Principal Secretary Thulani Mkhaliphi. It was gathered during a briefing at Gege that the progress was currently at 76 per cent and it could have been even better had it not been for the recent rains experienced in the country.
It was said that the bridge (at Mkhondvo) was already levelled at the top only to find that the rains forced the Piet Retief dams to be opened, hence the water flow destroyed the bridge.
It was noted that there were deck slabs that were in the middle of the Mkhondvo River, which were damaged and washed away by the rains.
Reconstruct
According to the engineers, they had to reconstruct the bridge from scratch, though they said they could not quantify the damages when asked, but assured that it would not have cost implications on government.
They stated that they came up with a strategy to divert the river