After almost 6 years of bottlenecks and endless delays, roadworks on the busy N2 highway between Umhlali and Stanger are finally nearing completion.
“Despite earlier challenges that resulted in work stoppages earlier this year, construction on the N2 between KwaDukuza and Umhlali and Umvoti bridge will be complete in the next quarter (end September),” said South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) eastern region project manager, Trevor Zumani.
The project to realign the N2 at the northern ends of both the Umhlali and Umvoti River bridges broke ground in February 2016, where sharp curves were to be straightened to reduce the number of crashes.
But after 2 years the R57.4 million project ground to a halt when the main contractor, Nyoni Projects was sequestrated.
The company had completed less than a third of the original contract, receiving R15.5 million from Sanral.
The tender for the completion of the job was awarded to JSE-listed construction group Raubex at the end of 2019, with contract administration by Naidu Consulting Engineers.
Contractors were to be on site in the first quarter of 2020 and the completion date was set for April this year.
However, delays attributed to poor quality materials and the national lockdown pushed the project back by an additional 4 months.
“The northbound sections for both Umvoti and Umhlali bridge are complete and traffic is flowing. Work is underway on the southbound section and is expected to be completed in the next quarter,” said Zumani.
“Through all the challenges that we experienced I am excited that the project is nearing completion. The northbound traffic is going straight while the southbound traffic is being moved onto the northbound side for about 700 metres and 600 metres on both Umvoti and Umhlali bridges while construction continues,” he said.
“We would like to appeal to motorists to continue exercising patience and drive carefully along the construction site. We are almost at the finish line,” said Zumani.
