City of Joburg launches probe into R94m spent on 13km road which is in 'complete disarray'

• The City of Johannesburg launched a probe into millions spent on an incomplete project.
• The investigation will determine how much of the project was fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
• The City is now on its third main contractor after the first two failed to deliver.

The City of Johannesburg has launched a probe into R94 million which was spent on the Braamfischerville Ext 12 Gravel Roads Upgrade project.

The City said the current state of the road was in "complete disarray".

The MMC for development planning, Belinda Echeozonjoku, said in a statement on Wednesday that the investigation would determine how much of the R94 million was fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

"This kind of disservice to our residents is completely unacceptable and should be prevented from happening in future," she said.

Echeozonjoku said the City was now on its third appointment of a main contractor after the first two failed to complete construction work on the 13 kilometre road.

She said the first main contractor completed work on 6km of the road in 2017. The following year, she said, the City terminated the contract, due to poor performance, but over R63 million had already been spent.

The second contractor commenced work on June 2019 and, by the time the contract was terminated in January 2021, only 3km of the road had been completed. In addition, another R30 million was spent as the road had incurred damage over the years due to heavy rains.

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Echeozonjuku issued a stern warning to main contractors who failed to deliver on agreements with the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA). She expressed concern over the lack of due diligence ahead of the appointments of the main contractors.

"That means a full year passed without any work being done. This simply highlights the lack of oversight that has been happening at the JDA for some time.

"The fact that payments were made to the main contractors begs the question on how payments were made without work being verified on-site," she said.

The acting CEO of the JDA, Sherylee Moonsamy, said the poor performance of the main contractors and contract terminations have resulted in additional budget and budget constraints to complete the project.

Moonsamy estimated that at least R23.5 million was required to fix the damages and to complete the project. "The implementation of this project has proven very challenging, with poor performance of the appointed main contractors being the significant challenge and the greatest disappointment.

"The JDA has taken lessons from this unfortunate situation and wishes to ensure the successful completion of this project," Moonsamy said.