The MEC for Roads and Transport, Ms Pinky Kekana, officially opened the long-awaited Lutanandwa bridge at Levubu on Thursday.

This comes as a relief to motorists who had to travel an extra 24 kilometres´ detour along the Levubu farms. The newly reconstructed bridge across the Lutanandwa River is on the R525 between Louis Trichardt and Thohoyandou.

Kekana said that the re-opening of the bridge was evidence that her department was committed to deliver services. "Roads and bridges connect people and communities and also facilitate for them to access jobs, markets and other opportunities. We are living up to our mission of improving the quality of life of our people, but also of fulfilling the role of transport in making sure our road infrastructure serves both the economic and social needs of our people."

Kekana said the collapse of the bridge taught her department many lessons, but the most important one is that Mother Nature can be angry and when she is angry, she can destroy everything, including those that are made of steel and rocks. "Our commitment is to have a road logistics value chain that preserves road infrastructure and road safety and increases productivity of the logistics value chain. I understood the impact this bridge had on the people of Vhembe District. That is why, in future, we will fast-track the emergency programme to deal specifically with matters of this nature," said Kekana.

She said that the new bridge would reduce traffic congestion along the Elim road. The Lutanandwa Bridge was first constructed in 1954. According to Kekana, the new bridge was built at a cost of R28 million. The construction of the bridge made provision for the employment of local labourers, and 62 community members were employed at the project.