Durban — The construction of the state-of-the-art Coedmore Bridge is progressing as planned.
That was according to the eThekwini Municipality after mayor Mxolisi Kaunda visited the construction site on Saturday morning to inspect the rebuilding of Coedmore Bridge.
The municipality said the Coedmore Road rehabilitation and construction of the Coedmore Bridge in Yellowwood Park are progressing well and remain on schedule.
The bridge was destroyed during the floods.
The bridge is being rebuilt using funds from the Municipal Disaster Response Grant allocated by the National Treasury.
The project is expected to be completed by November this year and will benefit residents in wards 64 and 65.
Kaunda said: “We are constructing a new 90m-long, two-lane bridge with pedestrian walkways using cutting-edge integral bridge technology to reduce maintenance costs. The project, with a budget of R48 million, also includes the construction of a 150m road leading to the bridge, implementation of traffic-calming measures, and installation of improved surface drainage systems.”
Additionally, 12 locals have been employed under the project.
In 2022, the Daily News reported that ward councillor Gavin Hegter said he had been in constant contact with the engineer working on the replacement of the bridge.
He said at the time that the biggest challenge was funding, as neither the national nor provincial governments had come forward with any funding for disaster relief.
The estimated cost of replacing the bridge was R26m.
Hegter said there were suggestions that the residents rebuild the bridge and although the idea was commendable, it was not feasible.
He also said there were comments about the army building a Bailey bridge as they had done in other areas. Unfortunately, this had only been done in areas where the community was cut off from the outside world. This would still have had huge cost implications and the funds were simply not available at that stage.
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