The drive to construct and deliver 19 bridges to dozens of rural communities in the Eastern Cape by April 2024, has made some meaningful progress.
Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Transport, Unathi Binqose, said that this forms part of the Integrated Welisizwe Programme, a presidential intervention that has over 50 bridges currently under construction across the country.
He said that a total of 19 of those bridges are in the Eastern Cape, and are concentrated in the flood-ravaged districts such as OR Tambo District, Alfred Nzo, and Amathole Districts.
Binqose said,
He added that a total of 760 locals, 40 for each bridge, are getting employment through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in this R307 million project.
According to Binqose, this work is done through a partnership between the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) as the implementing agent, as well as the Office of the Premier, and the Eastern Cape Department of Transport. Binqose added that this aimed at improving safety, well-being and access for rural communities who often find that they are cut off from the world in times of flood.
Speaking about the Welisizwe Programme in his State of the Province Address last year, Eastern Cape premier, Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane, said that the construction of the 19 bridges under the Welisizwe Programme is an intervention to enable mobility of people within communities.
On the other side, road construction and maintenance in the Eastern Cape has received a major boost as MEC for Transport, Xolile Nqatha, received 11 road construction graders from the manufacturing firm, Komatsu.
According to him, they were procured by the department with the aim of attending to roads that have been damaged by the recent floods.
Nqatha said that in receiving these graders, they need to be licensed and get operators inducted as a matter of urgency, so they can start servicing their communities.
“This is in line with the premier of the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane’s commitment, and my Policy Speech that we were going to procure a plant, to strengthen our service delivery model, to deal with the challenges of our roads in the province. This comes at a time when our province is facing many challenges, and it will be a great relief to the masses of our people who need these roads the most, to help ease the access to social services,” said Nqatha.
