Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has urged the community of Butterworth to protect the newly constructed Ndabakazi Intermodal Interchange, which was officially opened on Saturday.
The new stretch of road, construction of which began in February 2023 and which was completed in August this year, is designed to ease traffic flow.
Creecy said the project demonstrated continued commitment to fast-tracking the delivery of critical road infrastructure, which is essential to unlocking economic growth and the potential of the country.
“We want to ensure that we’re building quality infrastructure, infrastructure that will still be here 30 or 40 years from now.
“We want to make sure that the community helps to protect this very important asset. We don’t want the barriers to be stolen and used for scrap. We don’t want tyres to be burnt on the road surface because it damages the waterproofing.
“This interchange and the roads that lead up to it and away from it are part of significant work that we are doing here in the Eastern Cape.
“In fact, we have 10 major projects in the Eastern Cape as well as related minor projects. And we’re doing it because we recognise that the Eastern Cape is one of those areas of our country that is critical in terms of transportation routes,” Creecy said.
The project created 240 jobs, empowering community members with valuable construction-related skills relevant to both the construction and maintenance of road infrastructure.
Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha said: “We are committed to transform the face of the province.
“Currently, only 10% of the roads are surface roads in the province, which means there is a backlog, and therefore these sorts of projects help us to catch up with the other provinces.”
Sanral provincial manager Mbulelo Peterson said that before the road was upgraded, it caused a major “bottleneck” which at times resulted in fatal accidents."
He said, “There are other issues of community beneficiation. We’ve got a number of roads that we did within the community, all done by local SMMEs.”
Mnquma municipality mayor Tunyiswa Manxila-Nkamisa said: ”We are immensely proud of the upgrade as the local government. We believe it’s going to expand economic opportunities for us. The road safety will improve mobility. It’s a positive as Ndabakazi is a conduit to different provinces."
Daily Dispatch
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