The City of Cape Town has passed an adjustment budget that will see R115m spent on building a security wall on the N2 ‘Hell Run’, as well as pedestrian crossings, improved lighting, landscaping and access control. It’s official: the City of Cape Town has allocated R115-million towards the N2 safety project, including for a security wall, following attacks on motorists. On Thursday, 29 January, during a virtual council sitting, the city’s adjustment budget, which includes this allocation, was adopted.
Local commuters and tourists have been attacked on a portion of the highway near the airport that has become known as the “hell run”. In some cases, GPS directions have led motorists astray and into the hands of attackers armed with stones and firearms. Last year, when the city announced its plans for the wall, they were criticised for a lack of community consultation, shielding tourists from the poverty experienced by communities living next to the highway and failing to address the root causes of crime.
On Thursday, during his council speech, Cape Town’s mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said the budget of the city’s Urban Mobility Department had been increased by R7-million for the design of the N2 Edge project. A further R108-million would be allocated in the 2027 financial year “to cover the bulk of the construction in that year”. The security barrier would make a “significant positive difference” to every motorist along the stretch and would reduce pedestrian fatalities, said Hill-Lewis.
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The existing security wall along the stretch of highway in question was “just completely dilapidated, and there is nearly nothing left of it”, the mayor told the council. It needed to be replaced, he said, but did not provide details of the new wall’s dimensions, nor what it would be made of. He said it wasn’t fair to the thousands of commuters who use that stretch of the N2 to be “subject to the attacks of a small number of criminal elements on their commute to work and back.
Many of them feel unsafe on that road. And that is not fair to them. It is their safety that I care deeply about.
“We will not just be building a safety barrier. We will also be fixing the road embankment along the N2 to actually make it better and more dignified for the communities along that stretch of road.” Plans include the addition of new pedestrian crossings, enhanced lighting and access control measures, along with the landscaping of embankments and addressing fire and flood safety considerations.
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