Africa-Press – Mauritius. The newly reconstructed Takamaka Bridge along Vacoas La Marie Road (B64) and funded to the tune of some Rs 17 million, was officially inaugurated, this afternoon, by the Minister of National Infrastructure and Community Development, Mr Mahendranuth Sharma Hurreeram.
The Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS), Mr Serge Gilbert Bablee, the Member of Parliament, Mr Ashley Ittoo, the Mayor of the Municipal Council of Vacoas-Phoenix, Mr Praveen Kumar Ramburn, and other personalities were present on the occasion.
In a statement after the ceremony, Minister Hurreeram recalled that the old low-lying bridge was often flooded and impassable during heavy rainfalls. In this context, the new bridge has been built with sufficient headroom to allow free flow of water even during heavy rainfalls and thus solve the flooding problem, he added.
Furthermore, he highlighted that the decision to reconstruct the bridge was taken following the torrential rainfall of April 2021 in the region of Vacoas where bridges along Takamaka River were flooded.
The road on the old Takamaka Bridge was narrow, approximately 5.8m wide, along the bridge owing to parapet walls on both sides and was a single span composite structure with masonry abutment walls of height 2.2m and reinforced concrete deck of depth 0.7m and a hydraulic section of 5m wide and 2.2m high to allow passage of water.
The new bridge now has a new hydraulic section that is able to cater for a rainfall intensity with a return period of 1 in 100 years and a widened hydraulic section of 9.5m and 2.5m high, pointed out Minister Hurreeram.
For his part, PPS Bablee underlined that this project is the result of a joint collaboration between the Ministry of National Infrastructure and Community Development and the National Development Unit, among others.
He added that works carried out to solve the flooding issue in the region along with the construction of the Takamaka Bridge included the cleaning up of the riverbeds, cutting of trees which obstructed the road, giving the Tranquille River its initial direction so that floods do not reach planters and farmers of the region of Solferino.
Reconstruction of the Takamaka Bridge The contract for the works as regards the Takamaka Bridge was awarded to Gamma Construction Co. Ltd under the Road Development Authority’s Framework Agreement for Road and Minor works (2020-2023). Works started in October 2021 and was completed end of April 2022.
The bridge was temporarily opened to traffic during the Maha Shivaratree festival in the end of February 2022 to mid-March 2022, and thereafter closed again to complete the outstanding Central Water Authority (CWA) works and final resurfacing.
The works done included, amongst others, demolition of the existing bridge; reconstruction of the new Takamaka bridge as per Land Drainage Authority’s approved section; improvement of the junction of Vacoas-La Marie Road (B64) and Thompson Road by providing a better turning radius thereat; construction of retaining walls along Thompson Road; relocation of the existing three main CWA pipes along the bridge; relocation of existing Mauritius Telecom optical cables; river dredging at inlet and outlet of bridge; and provision of miscellaneous road equipment such as markings, traffic signs, handrails.
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