Belfast Road finally reconstructed
After 17-years of pleading, the department of roads and transport has finally availed R95 million to rebuild nine kilometers of the old Belfast Road.
The first phase of nine kilometers, from Woestalleen to Pan Bridge, will also be widened to accommodate four lanes.
According to the municipality, the dangerous alternative route which has no emergency lanes of cambers, will be overhauled completely.
The year-long project is set to finalized by January, after kicking off at the start of the year with the establishment of a road side laboratory testing site for quality control purposes.
The local community of Sikhululiwe (the former Mafube Village), will be trained in laboratory operations and road testing.
To date, 48 people, of whom 35 are local, have been employed.
Mpefumelelo Business Enterprises has been appointed as main contractor, while local contractors have been sub-contracted to provide water tankers and equipment for the project.
Pan bridge will also be widened and culverts replaced.
Despite the state of the road, traffic is surprisingly dense with mine and agricultural vehicles, as well as trucks.
“The speed with which these vehicles criss-cross the basically non-existent road, is frightening,” municipal communications officer, Mr Emmanuel Tshehla, told the Observer, adding that stop-and-go points will definitely be introduced to manage existing traffic for both motorist’s and contractor’s safety.
The DA, who’ve been pressurizing the province to rebuild the road for the past two years, have welcomed the project despite a number of postponements.
DA member of parliament, Mr Anthony Benadie, who resigned as the party’s Mpumalanga leader two months ago, says the department availed altogether R425 million from 2013/2014, 2014/2015 and 2015/2016’s budgets to rehabilitate the road from Middelburg to Wonderfontein, comprising 22km in total.
The project would have started in November 2013 and finished in August this year, but even before the project was set to start, it was marred by a number of delays due to financial shortfalls.
“Though we welcome the reconstruction of the road, the DA is a bit worried about the constant change in plans from the department’s side, chopping and changing the phases of the project, and commencement dates of work,” Mr Benadie told the Observer.
He says that the road reconstruction would have a positive economic impact on the town, since no alternative routes than the N4 were available.
•Apart from the road upgrades, 83 new RDP houses have been built for the elderly and disabled from Sikhululiwe and surrounding farms.
The project was handed over the the municipality for inspection on 23 April and the official handover is set to take place in September.
