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The Msikaba Bridge — a cable-stayed steel deck structure that forms part of the N2 Wild Coast road project — will cost R1.72 billion to build.
Sunday Times reports it is scheduled to feature in Building Impossible with Daniel Ashville, a National Geographic engineering series that will air from 12 September on DStv’s channel 181.
The bridge spans the Msikaba River, near Lusikisiki, and its purpose is to significantly reduce travel times for heavy freight vehicles travelling between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
Once completed, the route between Durban and East London will be approximately 80km shorter, eliminating the need to travel inland via Kokstad.
The project is set to be completed in 2025 and will feature in National Geographic’s Building Impossible with Daniel Ashville.
Mbulelo Peterson, Sanral regional manager for the southern region, said the bridge will reach 195 metres in height with 128 metre-high pylons, making it the third highest on the continent. It will span 580 metres.
“The bridge forms part of Sanral’s N2 Wild Coast Road programme, which entails upgrading a 410km stretch of road from East London to the Mtamvuna River on the border of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal,” Sunday Times quoted Peterson as saying.
In June 2022, then-transport minister Fikile Mbalula shared images of the bridge’s construction, adding that it was progressing steadily.
“The [Msikaba Bridge] will stimulate investment and growth, initiate new economic sectors and transform the connection of rural communities to urban centres around the country,” he said.
“The project will continue to create thousands of new jobs and economic opportunities in line with the new Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.”
According to Peterson, the bridge’s construction is set to create approximately 8,000 full-time jobs, carrying a wage bill of around R750 million.
It will also create between 21,300 and 28,100 indirect jobs.
Once completed, ongoing operation work on the bridge is expected to create 900 direct jobs and up to 18,900 indirect jobs.
The Msikaba Bridge and N2 Wild Coast road project could prove helpful for commuters and residents of the coastal area between Port St Johns and Port Edward.
Until recently, the region hasn’t had any significant towns or road infrastructure, and it is also set to be the home of a coastal smart city.
In September 2021, the government announced plans to build a new South African smart city in the area.
Then-minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma presented the plan at the ANC’s national executive committee lekgotla that same month.
She described the proposed city as “coastal, smart, vibrant, integrated, prosperous, sustainable and resilient.”
The ANC has said the smart city will reduce unemployment, promote tourism, and reverse migration and apartheid spatial planning.
President Cyril Ramaphosa described the N2 Wild Coast road project as Sanral’s flagship project in the Eastern Cape.
“Of this, the Port St. Johns and Port Edward portion is a greenfield project that commenced in 2016,” said Ramaphosa.
“This is Sanral’s flagship infrastructure project here in the Eastern Cape. It is one of 18 designated national Strategic Integrated Projects of catalytic value.”
He added that the project will benefit tourism both inside and outside the province and help to grow the provincial and national economy.
“It will create a trade corridor running along the Indian Ocean coastline from Cape Town through to Gqeberha, to East London, to Durban, and to Ermelo in Mpumalanga,” said Ramaphosa.
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