Pretoria battles controversy to build Africa’s tallest bridge
Artist impression of Mtentu Bridge Project on South Africa
What you need to know:
- The Mtentu Bridge Project on South Africa’s famed Wild Coast is set to be the highest in Africa and among the tallest in the world
- The project includes expanded road links to major ports and international tourist arrival centres which could help the impoverished Eastern Cape region and help rebuild South Africa’s Covid-hit economy and tourism sector
- Even after the project started recently following community protests and court cases that saw a five-year delay, controversy was still far from over
South Africa is finally beginning construction of what will become Africa’s tallest bridge on the back of years of outrage by affected communities, court suits and a major escalation in its cost.
The Mtentu Bridge Project, which also includes extensions to the national road system in the largely undeveloped East Cape province of the country, will allow easier access to the famed Wild Coast on South Africa’s south-eastern Indian Ocean coastline.
Originally intended to be completed by now, the bridge featuring the longest cantilevered central beam span in Africa, is hoped to be a key infrastructure development driving the rebirth of the country’s hard-hit tourist sector still recovering from Covid-19 pandemic.
But, as has become the norm in South Africa in the last two decades, this project has endured long delays and is officially going to cost almost double its original estimate, at $213 million.
Despite the economic opportunities it is likely to bring to the region, the bridge’s construction was almost stopped when local communities, including some who faced removal from their traditional lands, engaged in violent protests to halt its construction.
The community-based objections eventually forced an international consortium, put together to build it, to dissolve amid court actions and all-round protests.
Despite the issues, the formal go-ahead to begin the pre-construction phase of the Mtentu Bridge Project has recently been given, with both court and community challenges that had delayed it for over five years resolved, say officials.
Both central government and regional authorities are counting on the bridge and associated major highway constructions to lure international tourists, when it is completed in 2027.
