28 Sep 2022

Resealing and marking of the road between Werda and Makopong is behind schedule due to contractor’s slow rate of progress and poor cash flow.

Speaking during Kgalagadi District Council meeting on Tuesday, council chairperson Mr Hendrick Jacobs expressed concern that the resealing of the 30 km road awarded to Millennium Holdings and commenced on 03 October 2018 was scheduled to be completed on October  2 2019, but has since been progressing at a snail’s pace.

The project, he said was awarded at a cost of P21 million and delayed due to contractor’s slow progress rate and poor cash flow. The contractor was then granted 176 days extension of time for completion due to the increase in quantities of potholes, and an additional two months for delays attributed to COVID-19 national lockdown. These challenges, he said extended contract completion date to  September 4 2020 however the contractor has not delivered.

Nonetheless, he appreciated that at least the contractor was on site and progress on resealing stood at 27.2 km out of the 30 km. While earthworks on the remaining 1.2 km re-construction section and the remaining shoulder widening works at Werda were awaiting material. Thus the overall progress was around 90 per cent against the planned 100 per cent.

Acting chief roads engineer, Mr Tumelo Lesole admitted that the road between Werda and Makopong was one of the challenging projects in the district which had delayed for quite some time.

He said they have taken necessary steps and had advised on what ought to be done to remedy the situation, “We have made our recommendations to the higher authorities,” he said. He appreciated that that late last month there was activity on site after a long hiatus. They primed the road and then stopped again, however, “we are hoping that the contractor will do something,” he expressed optimism.

On other roads in Kgalagadi district, chairperson Jacobs said the resealing and road marking of the 80km road between Tsabong and Middlepits was on course, “Progress at site is currently 50 per cent and the contractor experienced some disruptions with the supply of bitumen which caused minor delays to his progress.”

The project at the sum of P35 million, awarded to Limousine Construction included pre-treatment works, resealing and road marking over a period of 12 months. The tender was awarded in December 2021 and works commenced on  February 2 2022.

Another project of resealing and road marking of a 24 km road between Tsabong and McCarthy’s Rust was awarded to Ultimate Dream Pty Ltd to the tune of P18 million, and had commenced on 18th May 2022 and completion was set for 17 May 2023 he said.

The project is currently on schedule and the physical progress as at the end of August 2022 was at 25.3 per cent.

Regarding the fog spraying and road marking of the road between Kang and Hukuntsi, the chairperson said a budget of P19.8 million had been approved. The fog spraying, was meant to prevent further loss of stones from the road pavement.

In addition to fog spraying, he said road marking and installation of road studs would be factored in. The project has been awarded to Sureity Engineering company at a cost of P 11 million. The project was expected to commence in September 2022 and completed in five months.

As for the Upgrading of a 250 km road between Mmathethe, Bray and Werda to bitumen standard, he said the road was one of the projects which would be implemented under the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan.

Its project memorandum was approved in October 2021, adding that site visits for both the design and environmental impact assessment were conducted on March 2022 and evaluation of both projects was currently ongoing.

As for the resealing and road marking of the road between Omaweneno and Tsabong, and scheduled to be implemented under 2021/2022 financial year, budgeted at P32.5 million he said tenders were awaiting adjudication by the Ministerial Tender Committee. The project includes pothole patching, treatment by slurry and resealing of 37 km road. 

The works were expected to start in April this year and scheduled to be completed in 12 months, but have since been delayed by a complaint lodged with Ministerial Tender Committee by one of the bidders.

The complaint was dismissed on  April 5 this year which resulted in the bidder escalating the complaint to PPADB on the April 6 , a matter which has now been referred to the Public Procurement Tribunal to resolve. ENDS