EThekwini’s Engineering Unit Wins 2023 SAICE Award:
By Fred Felton | Sep. 19, 2023
The eThekwini Municipality’s Engineering Unit has received national recognition by winning an award at the 2023 National South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) Awards on 7 September at Monte Casino in Johannesburg.
 |
| Hard work and perseverance has paid off for eThekwini Municipality’s Engineering Unit after winning the most prestigious 2023 National SAICE Award in a Community Based Project. From L-R Mr Zibuse Kweyama (Director Natia Construction), Mr Xolile Mkati (eThekwini Municipality Engineer) and Mr Mthembeni Khumalo (eThekwini Municipality Project Executive). | Photo: ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY |
The Engineering Unit’s Roads Provision Department team won the Community Based Project Award for the Emansomini Pedestrian Bridge which is located in the Philani Valley of uMlazi.
This bridge was officially handed over by eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda on 9 September 2023.
The building of the Emansomini arched soffit pedestrian bridge over the Ezimbokodweni River features a four-span semi-integral reinforced concrete bridge with a total length of 100 metres.
The construction project began in January 2023 and was concluded in June 2023. The reconstruction project created 22 jobs for locals and had a budget of around R9.3 million.
‘’The bridge aims to improve the safety and connectivity of residents from Wards 86 and 94 by providing safe passage across the river. In terms of community-based efforts including job creation, contract participation goals, and the inclusion of emerging contractors, the project exceeded the contract targets in all areas,’’ said eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda.
Local residents have also benefited from this project.
For those involved in the project it has been very rewarding. ‘’I was working as a Civil engineering Technician for the Emansomini Bridge project,’’ noted Sbulele Dlamini, a Civil Engineering Trainee from Mangosuthu University of Technology.
Click here to submit your News – free.
Have you tried: Videos From PE?
Quick Durban KwaZulu-Natal Fact: Cato Manor in Durban once attracted attention from around the world because it was where rioting broke out in 1959 in protest against the city’s beerhalls and the looming prospect of mass forced removals in which the residents would be uprooted from their homes in terms of the notorious Group Areas Act, and resettled in townships. The area was granted to George Christopher Cato in 1865, perhaps as a reward for his years of community service and for the fact that, in 1854, he had become Durban’s first Mayor. The land was sub-divided in the early 1900s and leased to Indian market gardeners, many of whom were either former indentured labourers, who had come to South Africa to work on the sugar plantations, or their descendents.
Watch a Video:
Clansthal Seasonal Craft Market.