13km of Joburg road cost R94m to upgrade, but it's still not fixed

Despite spending R94m to fix a road in Braamfischerville, Johannesburg, the route is still in “complete disarray” — and the city is now investigating the contractors paid for work that wasn't done.

The city's MMC for development planning, Belinda Echeozonjoku, said in a statement on Tuesday that an investigation was under way after the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) was forced to appoint a third main contractor for the job. This after the first two failed to complete construction works on 13km of road in Braamfischerville.

The JDA, which implements projects for the city, was appointed by the city’s housing department to help with the planning, design and implementation of roads and stormwater systems for the Braamfischerville contract.

According to the statement, the first main contractor completed work on only 6km of the road and some of the stormwater work. The contract was terminated a year later, in October 2018, due to poor performance. More than R63m was spent in this period, the city said.

The second main contractor started working in June 2019 but completed only 3km of the road by the time the contract was terminated in January 2021, due to repudiation by the main contractor. An additional R30m was spent.

And after the heavy rains over the years, the road continues to degrade.

Echeozonjoku said she was disappointed at the state of some development projects implemented by the JDA, and gave a stern warning to contractors who failed to deliver on their agreements.

“An investigation into the R94m that was spent on the project will determine how much of it was fruitless and wasteful expenditure. This kind of disservice to our residents is completely unacceptable,” she said.

She said during a recent site visit community members said they last saw the second main contractor on site in December 2020.

Echeozonjoku said the lack of due diligence conducted before the main contractors were appointed was concerning.

“That means a year passed without any work being done. This simply highlights the lack of oversight that had been happening at the JDA for some time. That payments were made to the main contractors begs the question on how payments were made without work being verified on site,” she said.

Echeozonjoku, however, is confident that the appointment of the new board of non-executive directors, announced at the JDA's annual general meeting last week, will bring about improved oversight.

“The multiparty government will ensure that public money is spent on service delivery, efficiently and effectively, and without wastage or corruption,” she said.

According to the statement, the JDA has lodged a claim of R8m against the construction guarantees of the first main contractor and will further lodge a claim of about R4m against the second main contractor pending the outcome of a legal matter under way.

In the same statement, acting JDA CEO Sherylee Moonsamy said the poor performances by the main contractors and subsequent contract terminations resulted in additional budget constraints to complete the project.

It is estimated that at least R23.5m will be required to remedy the damages on the incomplete works 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,” Moonsamy said.

She added that the JDA will put measures in place to prevent this from happening again, and that Echeozonjoku's office will be given weekly progress reports on the project until its completion.

“The JDA has taken lessons from this unfortunate situation and wishes to ensure a successful completion of this project,” Moonsamy added.

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