Durban — The M4 Boys Town section of road was recently reopened to traffic after it had been closed for months due to floods following the heavy rains that battered parts of the province earlier this year.
The Department of Transport, Community Safety and Liaison said the North Coast community and motorists alike were feeling some relief after MEC Sipho Hlomuka officially reopened the section of road linking Durban, La Mercy and King Shaka International Airport on Friday morning.
The road was reopened after repairs were completed jointly by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, eThekwini Municipality, the SANDF, and the SA National Roads Agency Ltd.
The reopening of the road means that oThongathi, La Mercy, uMhlanga and the Durban CBD will all be connected once more. The road also provides a strategic link to the King Shaka International Airport and the Dube Trade Port.
During the floods in May, the road was washed away, forcing a total closure on both sides. Communities had had to use time-consuming alternative routes to get to important areas.
“The M4 was repaired at a cost of R3 million, which was mainly for the purchasing of material. The project was done using internal teams with the employment of 145 expanded public works programme participants,” the department said.
“The one major remaining closure on the M4 is the uThongathi River bridge, near Ballito, which is being attended to by Sanral. Plans are afoot to put temporary measures in place while the permanent structure is being constructed.”
The department added that the successful reopening of the road followed the reopening of the R102 near JG Crookes Hospital in Scottburgh after it had been repaired.
“These are part of strategic projects which were prioritised after the April and May 2022 floods,” the department said.
MEC Hlomuka, who was in attendance and accompanied by Thekwini Metro speaker Thabani Nyawose, Sanral representatives, and various SANDF commanders, applauded the speed with which the M4 repairs had been carried out, saying it demonstrated that the government was indeed hard at work.
“During the floods, we came here, and the damage was quite huge. We did not anticipate it to be done within such a short space of time. We commend the good work by all parties involved, and we want to see a similar pace as well in other projects,” Hlomuka said.
“What is good about this project is that it was done using internal government capacity and the (expanded public works programme). We managed to create work opportunities for young people, and this will help them with the necessary skills.
“Job creation is central in our service delivery programmes. With the reopening of this road, it will now be easy to connect between Durban, La Mercy and Boys Town. Motorists will benefit a lot in this project.”
The MEC also assured the people of KZN that the department, together with Sanral, was attending to all outstanding projects that had been affected by floods.
The department added that in the next few weeks MEC Hlomuka would be handing over to contractors for them to start work on various projects, including repairing blacktop, bettering and regravelling roads, and fixing bridges.
Recently, the SANDF said it had concluded repair work on the M4, which led to the official opening by the MEC on Friday.
Current repair and rehabilitation sites are located in Inanda, Zwelibomvu and KwaNdengezi.
In July, the Department of Transport, Community Safety and Liaison revealed that a budget of more than R100 million would be needed to rehabilitate the M4 after it was damaged during the floods in April.
This amount was revealed during a ceremony for the official opening of the M4 uMdloti River bridge, which was washed away in April.
At that time, acting MEC Jomo Sibiya said the bridge had cost about R22 million to build, and that the total budget moving towards Ballito was more than R100 million.
Soldiers deployed under Operation Chariot in KZN reconstructed and rehabilitated the damaged road on the M4 and Leo Boyd Highway.
Engineers started reconstructing the uMdloti Bridge and the M4 highway in La Mercy in June.
Daily News