KZN’s Ugu district to become major construction site

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18-07-2025
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Rising Sun Chatsworth
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This will translate into almost 7, 000 job opportunities for local SMMEs and community members, assisting them to provide for their families, as well as equipping them with the necessary skills and training in the roads construction industry.

The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited’s (SANRAL) ongoing effort to make the KwaZulu-Natal province a construction site has taken a notch up, owing to the planned upgrade of 66 kilometres of the N2 national road from Mtamvuna River to the Hibberdene Interchange in the Ugu District Municipality over the next three to five years.

SANRAL, whose distinct mandate is to manage the country’s national road network, will inject an estimated R13 billion into this part of KwaZulu-Natal.

This will translate into almost 7, 000 job opportunities for local SMMEs and community members, assisting them to provide for their families, as well as equipping them with the necessary skills and training in the roads construction industry.

Speaking at a stakeholder engagement session that SANRAL convened together with the Ray Nkonyane Local Municipality in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, this week, Samantha Dladla, a project manager for SANRAL’s KwaZulu-Natal office, said that the Mtamvuna River to the Hibberdene Interchange project is a flagship project for SANRAL in the province.

“The construction work that will be done on this project will be divided into six packages. The first package includes dualing of the CH Mitchell Bridge, which is in the south of Port Edward and spans the Mtamvuna River. The bridge connects KwaZulu-Natal to the Eastern Cape province,” she said.

The second package will be from Mtamvuma to Port Edward, the third will be from Port Edward to Mpenjati River, the fourth will be from Mpenjati River to Mbizana River, the fifth will be from Mbizana River to Marburg, and the sixth package will be from the Mtentweni Interchange to the Hibberdene Interchange, noted Dladla.

She also said that this project is significant because it forms part of SANRAL’s flagship N2 Wild Coast Project. The N2 Wild Coast Road project spans from East London to the Mtamvuna River on the border of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

The project is endorsed by the Presidential Infrastructure Co-Ordinating Commission (PICC) as a catalyst for economic development in the region. It is a major project for the province and forms part of the government’s 18 Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPS).

The project is SIP3, South-Eastern node and Corridor Development, and it will be a catalyst to uplift economic growth and development in both the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal.

“SANRAL has also embarked on community development projects in this part of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The scope of work on these projects includes the construction of pedestrian walkways along the N2 corridor, pedestrian access infrastructure from Izingolweni to Mthusi, as well as general community development between Izingolweni and Murchison. Through these projects, SANRAL has invested R450 million, with an estimated R58 million to be invested in subcontracting opportunities. About 330 job opportunities will also be created,” added Dladla.

Kwanele Ncalane, SANRAL’s stakeholder co-ordinator for KwaZulu-Natal, assured community members present at the stakeholder engagement session that SANRAL, working through the Project Liaison Committee (PLC), will continue to ensure that information is shared and that there is ongoing transparency on matters relating to subcontracting, project execution and employment of local community members.