It appears the senior citizens at Andries Scribante Haven in Cason will have to wait much longer before their lifts are replaced as there seems to be no immediate solution to the problem.
Despite multiple promises by the municipality, the elderly people at the centre had since 2017 been left without lifts to get to and from their flats in the multi-storey building.
When asked about the delays in replacing the lifts at the council-owned facility, the municipality spokesperson, Themba Gadebe, said work had commenced to repair the lifts.
However, the contract lapsed before the work could be completed. This meant the metro had to restart another supply chain process to bring on board a new contractor. There were reports that the lifts were apparently ordered from China, but when asked if that is true, Gadebe said the lifts are sourced by the appointed contractor, and that the municipality is not aware of who the contractor’s suppliers are.
“The lifts ordered by the contractors were never delivered. It is unknown where they were purchased,” said Gadebe.
According to Gadebe, the metro is undergoing a procurement process for the installation of new lifts, a process which will be completed in September.
He said ArchCor Consultants were contracted to conduct assessment of all the lifts at the City’s rental stock buildings and compile the bid specifications for all the lifts.
“Upon site visits conducted in March 2019, it was discovered that the lift shafts were damaged over the years and will need to be fortified before any lifts could be fitted.
“Due to this challenge, 3D analysis was required to analyse all the lifts shafts to ensure that any damage is known before going out on tender.
“The structural analysis will be complete by May 3, 2019. Once complete, the tender documents will be drawn to ensure that every need is covered,” said Gadebe.
The metro said the amount of money the project will cost will only be determined once the bid specification details are finalised. Gadebe, however, mentioned that there is a budget reserved for the installation of new lifts.
The Advertiser received a number of complaints about frail old residents of the centre who had been stuck in their flats because they are unable to use the flights of staircases.
When asked if the metro would intervene in this difficult situation, Gadebe said: “The City is considering relocating the tenants to the available vacant ground and first floors flats of the complexes in order to ease the tenants’ challenge.”
He said the old lifts were dismantled and removed by the previous appointed contractor due to the fact that they were no longer functional and had reached their expected useful life.
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