eThekwini Municipality faces road upgrade delays, seeks R30 million funding

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03-06-2026
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IOL
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The eThekwini Municipality needs R30 million to complete roadworks on the Old North Coast Road in Durban.  

In the interim, R3.3 million was needed by reprioritising the 2025/26 financial year budget and the remainder from the new financial year 2026/27.

Meanwhile, reports are that the road is closed with limited access, the contractors have left the site, and pallets stacked with cement bags have been left on the roadside.

As part of its motivation to the council on Friday, the municipality expressed concern about the incomplete road infrastructure, exposed excavations posing safety hazards, and the impact on public confidence in the municipality’s ability to deliver critical infrastructure. 

The R222 million contract was issued in May 2023 to upgrade and widen the Old North Coast Road and improve service and vehicular access within the new Avoca Node Development, with a completion date of May 2025. 

The municipality stated that the road was widened from a single carriageway to a dual carriageway, including a central median, sidewalks, stormwater infrastructure, and retaining walls.  

“The project is 90% complete. The challenges included unforeseen ground conditions, prolonged rainfall, embankment instability requiring specialist lateral support systems, and the relocation of critical services,” stated the municipal report. 

The municipality allocated R32 million for the project in the 2025/26 financial year. However, a shortfall still exists. The municipality must reprioritise the 2025/26 capital budget to cover additional funding. 

The Economic Development and Planning Committee report stated that R27 million will be allocated in the 2026/27 financial year to cover additional funding required for the upgrade and widening. 

To cover the 15% VAT, the council also approved R3.3 million on the available remaining budget for the 2025/26 financial year, and R4 million for the requested budget in the 2026/27 financial year.

To make up the R3 million, the municipality stated that R2 million will be taken from the Oceans Umhlanga Development Project and R1.3 million from the Cornubia Boulevard Phase 1 project. 

Councillor Rowena Bosman, representing the DA in eThekwini ward 110, said repeated delays and poor budgeting have left residents and business owners bearing the costs.  

“Contractors were unpaid for three months, and workers were sent home,” she said.  

Bosman said Bosman stated that this reflects a pattern and culture where projects are shuffled like musical chairs. 

“One stalled or failed initiative is propped up by depriving another. Funds are constantly reprioritised, not according to planning or accountability, but according to crisis management. The result is predictable. Endless delays, ballooning costs, and communities are left stranded.” 

Bosman said the residents and businesses along Old North Coast Road have endured unnecessary inconvenience and expense. 

“At what point do we stop pouring taxpayers’ money into projects that are chronically under‑budgeted and risk never reaching a conclusion, no matter how much funding is reprioritised?”

Bosman said the council must confront the truth that reprioritisation has become a substitute for planning, accountability, and consequence management. 

“We cannot continue to rob Peter to pay Paul, depriving one project to fund another, while neither reaches completion,” she said. 

Andreas Mathios, spokesperson for private security company Marshall Security, described it as a crucial link road for emergency services.

“Emergency services have to use an alternative entrance or a roundabout route, which is costly in fuel. Response times are a thin line between life and death. This has been a constant thorn in our side and is affecting society,” Mathios said. 

Ish Praladh, chairperson of the eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association (ERRA), said delays in infrastructure repairs, not only on roads, are an ongoing crisis which he had highlighted at recent ratepayer meetings with the municipality.