THE long-awaited Buffalo River Bridge city bypass could finally see the light of day following talks between the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.
The proposed bridge and arterial road link between the N2 and R72 would bring a welcome reduction in congestion to East London’s central business district by offering road-users a bypass to the west of the city.
Buffalo City Head of Spatial Planning and Development, Nonceba Mbali-Majeng, said SANRAL had agreed to assist in a review of the feasibility study – including the costs.
A progress report was recently tabled before council. An initial estimate in 1998 for the construction of the bridge and bypass put the cost at R300 million. Mbali-Majeng said this has since risen to an estimated R793 million, assuming the project is divided into four separate phases and contracts, and factoring in a 5% annual increase.
SANRAL is in the process of preparing a project implementation plan for the route analysis which will be presented to Buffalo City at its next progress meeting.