Going the extra mile, eThekwini Municipality’s advanced skills in road infrastructure development has earned national recognition after the city’s engineering unit bagged an award last week.
The National South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) award ceremony was held on Thursday September 7 at Monte Casino in Johannesburg.
The engineering unit’s Roads Provision Department won the Community Based Project Award for the Emansomini Pedestrian Bridge, in Philani Valley of uMlazi.
The bridge was officially handed over by eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda on Saturday September 9. The construction of the bridge over the Ezimbokodweni River is a four-span semi-integral reinforced concrete bridge with a total length of 100 metres. The project started in January 2023 and was completed in June this year, said Gugu Sisilana, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson. She added that the reconstruction had created 22 job opportunities for locals and had a budget of around R9.3 million.
Mayor Kaunda congratulated the team on a job well done which he said had garnered national recognition.
“The bridge aims to improve the safety and connectivity of residents from wards 86 and 94 by providing safe passage across the river. In terms of community-based efforts including job creation, contract participation goals, and the inclusion of emerging contractors, the project exceeded the contract targets in all areas,” he said.
He added that this was not the first time the team had been recognised for their sterling efforts to enhance service delivery.
“In 2020, they received the second-place award in the category of Most Outstanding Project for Technical Excellence for their exemplary work on the emergency rebuilding of the Seaward Road Bridge over the Umhlatuzana River.
“Furthermore, in 2017 they secured the top position as the overall winners in the Most Outstanding Project for Technical Excellence category for their exceptional work on the IRPTN M25-C9 Underpass project. It is noteworthy that both these projects were not only planned but also designed and supervised by the municipality’s in-house engineers,” said Mr Kaunda.
