The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) has acknowledged the urgency of the sewage spills into the Modderfontein River.
This comes after Dr Irwin Juckes, the founder of Edenvale RiverWatch, raised concerns about the major spills that have occurred in the area recently.
Dr Juckes said in the first three weeks of September there were at least six major sewage spills directly into the river and probably more that he doesn’t know about, away from the river but which get there via the storm water system.
“It has never been this bad before and it will get worse when the summer rains come,” said Dr Juckes.
“This is the ‘Modderfontein Outfall Sewer’ project. Work started around 2010 but was stopped in 2011 because the contractor was not capable. Due to inefficiency in Ekurhuleni tender processing, work has still not started again. Each year they mess up and have to put it out to tender again, and it seems the same thing is happening again this year,” he said.
The EMM’s spokesperson, Mr Themba Gadebe, acknowledged the problem and said due to unforeseen circumstances the work had been delayed.
Mr Gadebe said the contract required a Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading of 7CE or 6CE PE.
The appointed contractor had the required CIDB grading of 7CE at tender closing and during adjudication, but when the contract was awarded, CIDB for some reason, downgraded them to 4CE.
“The appointment letter states that the appointment is subject to submission of a valid CIDB certificate, guarantee, insurance and so forth within 14 days.
“The contractor submitted with the guarantees and insurances, a 4CE CIDB certificate. The EMM’s tender office gave the contractor an extension of a week to submit a valid CIDB certificate, but the contractor failed to do so.
“Instead, they wrote a letter to the city manager stating that they have the capability and capacity to successfully execute the contract and they are challenging the CIDB’s decision. The tender office requested clarity from the CIDB and they advised against going ahead with the appointment,” said Mr Gadebe.
He said the responsible department then requested the tender office to urgently revise the adjudication report and withdraw the appointment of this contractor and recommend the second highest bidder. “However, they advised that the matter must first be referred to the corporate legal services department for comments. We are awaiting legal advice,” said Mr Gadebe.
