R94m Johannesburg Road Upgrade Yields No Results, City Launches Investigation Into Unfinished Project
- A road upgrade in Braamfischerville, Johannesburg, was meant to cost R94 million, but this only covered 13km
- Due to maladministration and incompetence, two of the project's main contractors had to be fired
- The City of Johannesburg will require a hefty sum to complete the road upgrade due to damage caused by heavy rain and hail
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JOHANNESBURG - The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) was appointed for a project worth R94 million to upgrade a road in Braamfischerville but only worked on 13km of the road and have not been able to finish with the allotted funds.
Belinda Echeozonjoku, the development planning MEC for Johannesburg, said that the City is investigating the matter, because the proposed budget of R94 million was meant to cover the entire project and not just the part that has been completed.
According to TimesLIVE, the JDA claims they had to hire a third main contractor due to the first two's incompetence. Therefore they lost money from the hiring process. Echeozonjoku expressed her disappointment at the situation.
Source: Getty Images
Why the road upgrade was so expensive and time-consuming
The project started in 2018, and by October that year, only 6km of the road upgrade had been completed, which resulted in the first contractor being fired. He had spent R63 million of the R94 million budget.
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No work was done until June 2019, when a second contractor was hired. However, he was fired in January 2021 for only completing 3km of the upgrade in the period. He spent R30 million. Therefore only R1 million was left, and a new contractor had to be hired, BusinessTech reports.
Throughout the project's years, the road has been damaged by heavy rainfall and hail. The City said they were disheartened at the state of affairs and warned the JDA that they would not tolerate a similar situation in the future.
Reactions to Johannesburg road upgrade
@BonginkosiNhl17 believes:
"The contractors must pay back all the money they were paid."
@DavidCOJ102 said:
"Heartbreaking the blatant corruption. If only every rand for rand was spent properly."
@newhorizanman remarked:
"Always AFTER the mess."
@JacquieTK shared:
"The real culprits must account. If they are officials their pension funds must pay back for wasteful expenditures."
New speed limits put forward by RTMC for SA roads, 10km/h drop expected
Speaking of South Africa's roads, Briefly News previously reported that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has suggested that the speed limits on South Africa's highways and roads should be lowered by 10km per hour.
This aligns with a United Nations (UN) global goal plan that South Africa has signed. The UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 aims to halve the number of vehicle crashes that take place by 2030.
Simon Zwane, the chief communication officer for the RTMC, said one method they plan to use to achieve this goal is to lower the speeds motorists are travelling at, reducing car crashes on South Africa's roads.
Source: Briefly News
