As part of the ongoing Welisizwe Rural Bridges programme, on Thursday 5 May 2022, Minister Patricia de Lille along with the Minister of Defence, Thandi Modise and MEC of Public Works and Human Settlements, Jomo Sibiya will be handing over the latest rural bridge to a community in Empangeni, KwaZulu Natal.
The National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) in collaboration with the Department of Defence (DoD) and the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government is constructing bailey-type bridges in various districts. The initiative forms part of government’s response to challenges of access to social facilities and forms part of the SONA commitments as announced by the President earlier this year.
The programme is aimed at providing urgent safe access to social amenities such as schools, places of work and clinics and further respond to potential disaster areas and emergency disaster situations.
Since the 2020/2021 financial year, 14 bridges have been completed in various communities in KwaZulu Natal.
The programme contributed towards the skills development initiative as 23 graduates are appointed as the bridge assessment, project management team and maintenance team. These positions included junior and assistant engineers as well as candidate construction project managers.
The project also provided EPWP opportunities to residents from surrounding communities. In total 420 EPWP opportunities were provided during the construction of the 14 bridges in KwaZulu Natal.
In light of the recent flooding in KwaZulu Natal, the DPWI and DoD are working with the provincial government to respond to the need for more bridges to be installed in various communities across the province.
18 bridge sites were identified and assessed for the 2022/23 financial year and following the floods, an additional 6 sites were identified for bridges to be installed. On 21 April 2022, an additional 28 bridge sites were received from various municipalities.
The Nsimbakazi Bridge in Empangeni in the Mthonjaneni Local Municipality is one of the latest bridges to be completed and is ready to be handed over to the community.
Details of the handover are as follows:
Date: Thursday 5 May 2022
Time: 13h00 - 15h00
Location: Empangeni, KwaZulu Natal
Enquiries:
Zara Nicholson
Media Liaison Officer to Minister Patricia de Lille
Cell: 079 416 5996
E-mail: zara.nicholson@dpw.gov.za
Cornelius Monama
Media Liaison officer to Minister Thandi Modise
Cell: 082 578 4063
E-mail: Cornelius.Monama@dod.mil.za
