JOHANNESBURG, S. Africa: July 11 (Xinhua) — South Africa President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday officially opened the construction of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Bridge (NMLB) in the Eastern Cape Province.
Zuma said the bridge, built in honor of South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela near his home town, will boost economic activities in the province.
The construction will cost over 15 million U.S. dollars and will connect the village of Mvezo, Mandela’s birth place to many places in the province. Zuma said the bridge will lure more local and international tourists in the province as it will smoothens visitor movement.
“This historical village of Mvezo will now act as a catalyst for economic activities,” said the president. Mandela, nicknamed Madiba, will turn 94 on July 18. He was elected president of South Africa in 1994.
“The distance to Qunu village, where Madiba lives now, will be radically shortened and many visitors, both from our country and abroad, who wish to visit the birthplace of this world icon, will be able to do so, by branching off from a national road and travelling a relatively short distance on a new road, thus turning Mvezo potentially into a major tourist attraction,” Zuma said.
The president said the construction will provide work for over 300 people, improve access to services in the area including electricity, water, flush toilets, roads, entertainment, sport centers, shopping centers, schools, and agricultural production.
Zuma said there will be greatly improved access to health services, including clinics, hospitals and mobile clinics and ambulances, and this will result in the improvement of the health and general well- being of all community members.
“This will make it easier for the children and youth to access schools in the surrounding areas, the communities to access the police and share recreational facilities.”
Skills development in the region has also been given a tremendous boost as workers on the project have been provided with training in a number of important areas, including carpentry, steel work, bricklaying and paving, the president said.
“I have no doubt that the skills acquired during the bridge and road-building process will enable these workers to become more employable in the future, and to access jobs elsewhere even after the completion of the project, and these workers will themselves have easier access to nearby towns.”
The president said the bridge was both a metaphor for and a tribute to Mandela and his willingness to build bridges between people and between ideas, between young and old as well as between cultures.
“It is, after all, only fitting that we should bring positive change to Mvezo village – the birthplace of the man who changed the world, for better,” Zuma said. (Xinhua)
