GQEBERHA - The Public Works and Infrastructure Department is on a drive to repair and replace dozens of bridges in rural areas in the Eastern Cape.
Several school children have died while trying to cross bridges during heavy floods.
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Sihle Zikalala, says more funding and technical experience have been brought in to fast-track the long-planned project.
He said, "there has been this thinking that we will build bridges that are based on concrete all over the country but of late we realised that the resources in the Department of Defence provided us with a platform to build steel bridges."
"That's why the engineers from Defence have been able to design each of these bridges and they lead the whole process of installing them and we believe they come in as complementary and very serious support for our rural communities."