Pretoria - The contractor of Solomon Mahlangu Drive has been warned by the Gauteng government due to construction delays.
The R300 million construction should have been completed last year.
Gauteng MEC for Transport and Logistics, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, said although construction was interrupted by poor contractor performance, encroachment on road reserve and community activity, the completion of the road was moved to this year. The project was launched in 2019, with ambition to finish by 2022.
The plan was to expand the number of the lanes of the existing carriageway, but challenges were experienced. This included Covid-19 restrictions which saw many contractors forced to down tools during the first lockdown in 2020.
The road stretches almost 12km in the north-easterly direction, linking Lynnwood Road to the K54 in Mamelodi. It is considered one of the most important roads in Mamelodi because it assists travellers make easy passage and link to other areas.
“The department will start conducting background checks on companies we appoint to run our roads infrastructure construction projects. We have a responsibility to pay the contractor on time, but they must also stick to their end of the contract and perform as agreed,” said Diale-Tlabela.
The MEC visited the project as part of oversight site inspection with the Roads and Transport Portfolio Committee last week and engaged with stakeholders affected by the delayed delivery of the project.
They committed that the project would be completed during the 2023/24 financial year.
“Our visit to this project is part of responding to the marching orders we were given by the Premier (Panyaza Lesufi) to fast-track the delivery of infrastructure in townships, informal settlements and hostels. We cannot afford for such important infrastructure to affect the economic growth of our townships.”
The department has established a Rapid Response Unit that is charged with inspecting the quality of the transport infrastructure across the 5638km provincial network which the department is responsible for.
Diale-Tlabela established a project intervention team comprising officials from Design, Construction and Maintenance units to closely monitor the delivery of the project that has been causing traffic in Mamelodi, particularly in peak hours, a problem it was meant to solve.
Pretoria News