R40 sinkhole between White River and Hazyview still untouched
This part of the R40 road was damaged by the severe storms that hit the Lowveld in 2023.
The sinkhole on the R40 near Klipkopjes Dam, which was caused by the floods in 2023, seems to have become one of the White River area’s more notorious attractions.
The severe storm during February 2023 caused widespread damage to a considerable amount of infrastructure, houses, roads, schools and healthcare facilities.
Almost two years later and this stretch of road, where a large section had fallen away, is still operating on a stop-go basis. While repairs are almost done on other parts of the R40 that had also been damaged by those floods, this particular sinkhole near the popular Klipkopjes Dam has not seen any repairs.
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The situation persists despite promises by Sanral’s Northern Region’s project manager, Tony Seloana. He previously said a contractor had been scheduled to start with the repairs on June 3. A contractor handover meeting was held on June 12 to establish a project liaison committee and allow a construction site camp.
Motorists are concerned about the safety of this section of the road, especially as the rainy season is under way. They are afraid that the remaining section of the road will also be destroyed.
ALSO READ: Still no sign of contractor on damaged section of busy R40 between White River and Hazyview
Seloana said the contractor is facing challenges with the Project Liaison Committee (PLC) over the awarding of subcontracting work packages. These are currently being addressed by Sanral’s stakeholder co-ordinator and the City of Mbombela.
He said work on the bridge will begin as soon as the challenges with the PLC are resolved and subcontracting packages are awarded to carry out some of the repairwork. They will only be able to deploy their workers to the site afterwards.
