R73-million for Sugar Mill Road
Work on the virtually impassable road in Lower Albersville starts next Monday.
MORE than R70 million is to be spent repairing the P464, Sugar Mill Road and the Oscar Borchers Road.
The story on the P464 featured in the South Coast Herald last week has got the attention of the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison and KZN MEC for Human Settlement and Public Works, MEC Ravi Pillay.
At a special media briefing along the P464, on Tuesday this week, MEC Pillay addressed local businessmen, residents and the media on the refurbishment of the dangerous road.
The Sugar Mill Road has become virtually impossible to use over the years. Now residents and commuters can be assured that a full refurbishment will start from Oscar Borchers traffic lights in Marburg and through to the P464 up until the first traffic lights along Nelson Mandela Drive. The R73-million upgrade for the 8km road will start by next Monday, February 17.
The contract has been awarded to Naidu Consulting from Durban.
“This section of road which is maintained by the Department of Transport needed to be prioritised for a very long time,” said MEC Ravi Pillay. The problem of the road has been raised by the Hibiscus Coast Municipality. The total refurbishment of the road is important for improving the economy of the South Coast as well as the many commuters and residents who use the road from Louisiana, St Faiths and Umtentweni and other areas,” said Mr Pillay
He said he was pleased that the department of transport has prioritised upgrading the stretch of road. He also stressed that refurbishment should start on the worst end of the road and called upon the contractors not to do a shoddy job. Work on drainage along the road will also be looked at.
Mr Pillay appealed to the mill and farmers to make sure that trucks transporting sugar cane to the mill be secured. Many stormwater drains along Oscar Borchers Road and the P464 are blocked by fallen cane.
ANC activist Selvan Chetty, of the Lower South Coast branch thanked Mr Pillay for addressing the seriousness of the road to the relevant departments.
The photo surely depicts a bunch of opportunist scallywags in a ‘Spot the Whitey’ competition.