THE long-awaited completion of the High Street Bridge project has been the subject of much public scrutiny since its inception in November 2013 and, with almost five years elapsing and very little progress, many may be wondering what the hold-up is.
According to a report by AbaQulusi Municipality’s Technical Department, offering some background on the status of the project, there have been numerous snags along the way.
AbaQulusi Municipality received a grant from COGTA for four projects in the scope of Small Town Rehabilitation. The controversial High Street Bridge project was among these projects to be implemented by the Department of Development and Planning. However, due to a lack of technical skills in this department at the time and challenges which arose during the projects, Technical Services was requested to step in and assist.
The video below was shot in January:
AbaQulusi Municipality appointed Masefane Trading on October 22, 2013 to construct High Street Bridge, a project which included the construction of the bridge itself and the roads approaching the bridge, according to the report.
The duration of the project was initially anticipated to be six months or 24 weeks. However, had that been the case, this article and the many others that have been written about this specific subject would never have been necessary. The project commenced on November 14, 2013 and the original completion date was set to be May 20, 2014. But the project has encountered numerous, possibly unforeseen, obstacles along the way.
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Among these obstacles were time constraints during which work on the bridge, which runs across the train lines, would be able to carried out. At a meeting in Ladysmith with Transnet, it was emphasised that work activities could only be carried out at certain times when there were no trains active on the lines and, on the days when construction was permitted to commence, workers would have to wait for a Transnet flagman from Ladysmith to arrive at around 10am, according to the report, and work would have to cease when the flagman left at 3pm, limiting the workers to five hours at a time to work across the tracks.
A subcontractor was employed by Masefane Trading to do layer works and kerbs for the south side of the bridge. However, upon inspection, it was discovered that this work was inadequate and had to be redone and was ceded to and adequately completed by a local company. Another delay.
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During the construction, to the north side of the bridge, a rising main water pipe was discovered that had apparently not been taken into account. The discovery of this pipeline added yet another challenge to the already troublesome project, as it would require extra funding as it was not included in the original project. No extra funding was available.
Further delays were caused by design flaws, burst pipes causing damage to the layers and road surfaces, and overlooked infrastructure issues which added to the growing list of difficulties encountered in this seemingly poorly planned project.
The report states that the project reached about 94% completion before burst water pipes extended the delay on project completion.
Eventually, the community stepped in to assist and things have started happening at High Street Bridge again.
Former DA Councillor, Harry Heyns is currently the driving force behind a project aimed at ensuring the completion of this project with the help of community investment and the support and backing of locals to assist AbaQulusi Municipality in getting the ball rolling.
In the meantime, there are still many challenges standing in the way of the success of this project. However, with the right ethical codes at work and a more logical technical approach at the helm, perhaps we won’t have to wait much longer…
