TERRY HUTSON
THE PORT of Richards Bay has been forced to rethink its long-term plans fairly dramatically owing to poor geotechnical conditions in the area.
This was revealed at a seminar in the port last week. Port engineer Leon Goussard said that the cretaceous depth in land around the port was much lower than originally thought - down to minus 70 and 90 m in places - making it impossible to build wherever one wished.
He said that development in the northerly direction would reach eventual saturation, making it necessary for port authorities to move in a westerly direction into the Mhlatuze river floodplain and the N-2 highway outside the port's existing boundaries. Areas shown to be unfavourable by extensive drilling would have to be avoided.
Goussard reiterated that a passenger and cold storage citrus fruit export terminal were to be built near the small craft harbour. Safreight Goodwin Projects has been named as the preferred bidder for the R120 million project and negotiations are underway to finalise the development.
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