The City of Ekurhuleni blames the delays in the multimillion-rand project to build a new EMPD precinct on Covid-19.
The Advertiser recently reported that the project to build the police’s specialised services precinct in Boksburg South has suffered long delays – prompting complaints from affected and interested parties, including community leaders.
“Due to Covid-19 lockdown, all construction projects were halted from April 2020 onwards.
“Special budget adjustments have then been made to adapt to the huge economic impact that the lockdown regulations have caused on the City’s cash flow.
“All projects that are funded from revenue have been stopped due to the serious economic impact, and all other funding sources which were not ready to deliver have had their funding revoked as well for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial year,” explained metro spokesperson, Themba Gadebe.
Gadebe pointed out that the disruptions have an impact on halve completed projects. And he stated that once there is funding available in a future budget, the project will commence again.
“At that stage, it will be reinitiated with an evaluation of the project first to determine how to catch up and complete the project.”
It was previously stated the project would costs an estimated R34-million, but concerned citizens speculated that the project cost may see a substantial increase, due to the delays.
More than R6-m had already been spent on the neglected site to do the earthworks and site establishment. But when the Advertiser recently revisited the site, it was found that the earthworks and site establishment done by the first contractor have clearly deteriorated, and this is apparently due to neglect, vandalism and the heavy rains.
Commenting on this, Ward 32 Clr Marius de Vos said: “It’s become apparent that this will require the metro to redo the piece of work which costs taxpayers millions. This another fruitless and wasteful government expenditure.”
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