With work still suspended on the Mzimkulu River bridge in Port Shepstone, it is now believed the completion date is August 31, 2026.

And that is if the contractor is paid an outstanding amount of R31 516 686.

MEC of the KZN Department of Transport (DoT), Siboniso Duma, met with contractors in Merebank on May 4 to discuss outstanding payments.

“The meeting with contractors who are responsible for the overall rehabilitation, maintenance, and construction of more than 34 000km of KZN roads was fruitful,” said Duma.

However, at the same meeting, Duma mentioned that DoT handed R364m to the Department of Education (DoE) towards scholar transport.

In a statement released by the KZN Department of Treasury recently, it said that earlier this year, a provincial decision was taken for DoT to provide a cash advance to DoE to stabilise critical service delivery.

“DoE will now handle scholar transport, and DoT will focus on payment of contractors,” added Duma.

Furthermore he said that the department is stepping into a new era, which will be characterised by efficiency in the overall management of invoices for contractors and all service providers.

“The aim is to secure monthly payments of the provincial roads maintenance grant instead of quarterly payments. Funding of new infrastructure projects will be limited until the backlog of all invoices are settled.”

A local contractor, who did not wish to be named, and who attended the meeting on Monday, said Duma did not promise that any payments would be made soon.

“He mentioned that as the department has debts from previous years, these need to be settled with funding from the new financial year, making it difficult to pay for this year’s projects.”

However, the contractor said there might be a difference in the next three months because DoT aims to borrow funds from other departments.

“No new projects will be handed out until the debt issue is stable and the department is able to at least partially pay for existing projects.”

Meanwhile, in a written reply recently to questions to DoT from DA MPL Riona Gokool via the KZN Legislature, Duma said only 56% of the bridge repairs were complete as of February 2.

When Gookol asked for reasons for the significant delay, Duma said the primary cause has been the late payment of invoices by DoT, which led to the contractor suspending works, an action permitted under the terms of the contract.

According to a statement from treasury on May 4, it stated that for the 2025/26 financial year DoT was allocated R14.1b, comprising R8.8b in provincial equitable share and R5.3b in conditional grants for roads infrastructure and public transport programmes.

“However, at the start of the financial year, DoT entered with accruals and unpaid invoices totalling R2.3b, carried over from the previous year. In addition, invoices amounting to R265m had been captured at year-end but could not be released due to insufficient funds. (These amounts were not included in the R2.3b accrual figure),” said the statement.

“As a result, the combined effect was an immediate reduction of approximately R2.5b from the department’s effective budget from the first day of the new financial year.”

Rehabilitation of the bridge was meant to be completed in October 2025. However, the project has stalled a number of times, with further revised dates proposed for completion. But non-payment led to the closure of the bridge in February, which resulted in a single lane being reopened in March, with the intervention of concerned business owners.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram