Michael Waters, MP and DA constituency head Kempvale, issued a statement last week, claiming that the Harambee Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is bleeding the City of Ekurhuleni’s (CoE) finances dry, with each passenger costing ratepayers R330 per day.
The CoE has not yet responded to our request for comment on this matter.
“The City of Ekurhuleni has poured R290-million into the operational deficit of its BRT system over the last three years, placing heavy financial pressure on the City,” said Waters.
Department of Transport Replies
Waters stated that in replying to a recent DA Parliamentary question about this issue, the Department of Transport (DoT) labelled the City a token white elephant.
“The department also said the City of Ekurhuleni has no excuse for the current mess that it finds itself in as the current scale of costs and ridership is unbalanced and unviable, and has given it an ultimatum to turn things around or face the consequences.
“Since its inception in 2016, the BRT has been plagued with slow, delayed construction and an incompetent City that has missed one deadline after the other.
“The continued failure by appointed contractors to maintain deadlines and their own internal issues has cost residents dearly,” he said.
Waters pointed out that CoE had to expand the service to 80 buses carrying 20 000 passengers a day in 2018, but after failing to meet this deadline the City was given an ultimatum to scale up to a proper operation of at least 40 buses in 2019 or risk the department invoking Division of Revenue Act powers to withhold transfers. But CoE failed once more to meet this deadline.
Frustrated
“It is clear from the department’s replies that it is highly frustrated with the City’s incompetence.
“Despite two years of appeals, the City has proved to be incapable of correcting this, resulting in a final warning being communicated to its project team in March 2019 to rebalance costs and revenues and move to viability within six months,” said Waters.
Struggle to keep project afloat
Waters further stated that only 18 Harambee buses are currently operating, transporting 800 passengers on average each weekday. “These result in scarce financial resources being utilised to keep the vanity project afloat, while infrastructure crumbles and residents are forced to live with rolling power and water outages and having to drive on pothole riddled roads.”
Disruptions
According to Waters, the BRT service is also subjected to continuous disruptions due to affected taxi and other public transport operators being in dispute with the City due to non-payment of “loss of income compensation” payments for revenue forfeited by the industry due to the buses running.
Waters said the parliamentary replies to the DA have also revealed that:
• The launch of the BRT system in 2017 with just eight buses was premature, and was viewed by the Department of Transport to be on such a suboptimal scale that it could not be seen as a pilot phase.
• The amount spent on the BRT system is R1 687 509 216.
• The cost for each kilometre of construction of the BRT system amounts to R73.9-m.
• The original date that the BRT system had to be fully operational was June 2016.
• Cash flow challenges and the slow pace of construction by some of the infrastructure contractors not only caused delays but resulted in contractors being terminated.
Waters calls on Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina to reassure residents that this “poorly planned” project will not become a considerable fiscal risk for the City.
Metro responds to DA’s claims about BRT service
According to the metro, the Harambee project is fully funded through the Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) and since inception, the City has not yet granted any funding to the Harambee project.
Gadebe said action plans were in place and were being implemented to ensure achievement of set milestones in February. As of November, Harambee bus services transported 2 235 passengers per day.
Speaking of what actually caused the said delays, Gadebe said: “The delays in the construction of individual projects are a result of normal challenges experienced in the construction industry. Most of these challenges were community unrest in the affected areas, slow construction progress by appointed contractors, cashflow challenges faced by the contractors and recently delayed supply of materials to sites due to lockdown.”
When asked how the metro is addressing the said challenges, Gadebe said in October 2017, the City rolled out its starter service from Thembisa to Isando, and in January 2019 further rolled out from Thembisa to OR Tambo International Airport and is in the process of expanding to Bartlett.
“As the rollout of the system progresses, the passenger numbers, as well as revenue, grow. Further phases of the system are planned to roll out in the next financial years.
“An average of 3 315 passengers were transported per weekday in February. The number drastically reduced during lockdown.” The average numbers of passengers transported per day during recent months are as follows:
- September: 1 025
- October: 1 719
- November: 2 235
Responding to claims that the BRT service’s continuous disruptions is due to disputes between affected taxi and other public transport operators, Gadebe said the City and the Ekurhuleni Taxi Industry (ETI) concluded their first negotiations in 2017 and payment was effected.
“The City is in continuous engagement with the ETI as a major stakeholder in the Harambee projects, and as such maintains a workable relationship with the same.”
Gadebe pointed out that the City, with support from the National Department of Transport, introduced the starter service in October 2017 as a pilot phase with the intention to expand the services with added buses.
According to Gadebe, the average cost per kilometre for the completed works varies between R34-million to R79-m, depending on such factors as the extent and nature of road upgrades required as determined by the traffic study, the condition of existing road, the extent and nature of existing services, existing bridges and culvert which need to be extended, and the need to acquire land where necessary.
“Where the City experienced challenges regarding the performance of contractors, these were dealt with in terms of the contract signed between the City and the respective contractor, including termination of the contract in some cases.
“The majority of the so-called ‘terminated contracts’ were as a result of their contracts with the City expiring while the construction was still ongoing. Some of the reasons for contract termination were the contractor being liquidated during construction and failing to maintain National Treasury compliance regulations.”
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