The total cost of the project will be around R80 million.

According to Joseph Ngala, spokesman for the City of Mbombela Local Municipality (CMLM), White Hazy Building Construction and local engineers, GMH Consulting were awarded the proposed 18-month contract after a successful bid to construct the 1,5-kilometre road.

The construction proposes a surface width of 15 metres and a lane width of 3,5 metres in terms of the tender. The upgrade will include certain alterations to the Johanna Drive intersection.

“The road will have pedestrian walkways on either side, with guard rails. It will also include a storm water drainage system.”

The upgrade covers the stretch of road from Madiba Drive through Steiltes and ends at Samora Machel Drive. According to Ngala, it is a main trunk route for the inner city public transport distribution network of roads, with some abnormal cost factors involved. Ngala said Dr Enos Mabuza Drive has a large amount of infrastructure installed along its route.

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“All of these services running along the road servitude will need to be moved to accommodate the road widening. Some of the service providers affected are Telkom, Silulumanzi and Vodacom, to name a few. This alone will cost R11,5 million,” he said.

“Two existing intersections will be completely revamped and signalised and turning lanes will be constructed at all intersections. Large quantities of earth fill are required to construct a platform for the proposed road widening on the northern side and it will be necessary to construct a sizable retaining wall structure at three positions along the northern side of the road. The approximate cost implication for the aforesaid will be R19,3 million,” Ngala added.

Ngala explained that “due to huge traffic congestion on this corridor, the lanes will be upgraded to ensure proper access to Mediclinic Nelspruit, as well as the Westend Shopping Complex.” The road-widening project was seen as necessary in terms of the Integrated Public Transport Network’s (IPTN) feasibility study.

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The project manager employed by the CMLM on the Dr Enos Mabuza project, Velly Mapaila, confirmed that the project will mostly comprise the widening of the road with minimal additional building to be done next to this main trunk route.

“There is only one existing bus stop that will be kept, with some minor rebuilding involved. Some blasting will need to be done at Johanna Drive,” he said.

Regarding questions by the newspaper pertaining to the almost R66 million deficit in project allocation, Ngala stated that “the municipality will implement this project as a multi-year project”.

“An amount of R13,42 million allocated in terms of the City’s IDP is only an estimated budget for the 2019/20 financial year, subject to a mid-year budget review based on the performance of the contractor. The remaining approximate R66 million will be determined and allocated in the 2020/21 financial year,” he said.

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Ngala, who initially said the project would only take 18 months to complete, stressed that there would not be a contract overrun but, “if the project is completed late, normal conditions of the contract will apply and penalties will be imposed by the contractor”.

“The road will not be completely closed, as there will be traffic deviations installed in order to allow for free-flowing traffic during peak hours from 06:00 to 08:00 and from 15:30. A stop-and-go will be erected near the end of the project on the Johanna intersection,” Ngala said.