The Metro Centre in Braamfontein is currently not being used after being deemed unsafe for use and occupation. Photo: Michel Bega
The City of Joburg says it will take five to 10 years to reconstruct and cost at least R2 billion to refurbish the Metro Centre building, which had to be abandoned last month after a transformer exploded.
But an experienced civil engineer has described the timeframe as ridiculous, and the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg has said “something sinister” was happening. The projected timeframe and huge costs made it look as though the project was being set up for well-connected politicians to benefit.
Siya Nodu, acting executive director for corporate services in the city, said the transformer fire was due to “sabotage or a theft gone wrong”.
He added that because the Metro Centre was built in the ’70s, it had “continued to decay”.
The Joburg Property Company (JPC), the owner, was warned as early as 2014 about the problems in the building.
JPC had failed to maintain the Metro Centre and it has been argued it did not have sufficient funding to maintain or refurbish the building.
“In 2019, there was another report that was done: To do inspections of electrical, structural, as well and the OHS (occupational health and safety) conditions of the building,” said Nodu.
“All the reports came with adverse findings. Its occupation was becoming intolerable.” Nodu said the ideal solution would have been for the entire building to be renovated.
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“Realistically with the work that has to be done there, if there are sections that need to be demolished, that means you need to do reconstructions and that’s not going to take a short space of time,” he said.
“If you say ‘I want the people back in the building in the next three to six months’, as an example, you can do so – but it will cost in the region of about R900 million.
“If you refurbish, you improve what is there. But the question is how long will it be again before you find that you might have to completely demolish certain sections because the age of the building is advancing – and that’s the reality.”
Nodu said the R2-billion investment would have more value and benefit to improve the useful asset life of the building.
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David Botha, former executive director of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, said it was ridiculous for a building to take five to 10 years to refurbish, reconstruct parts of it, or demolish and reconstruct.
“It’s definitely not a five- or 10-year job,” he said. “If you look at buildings being built all over, let’s be realistic to say three or four years max. Five to 10 years is ridiculous.”
He said the damage from the fire should be assessed.
“My guess is that if there is no fire damage to the structure itself in terms of the brickwork and columns, it should be far cheaper to refurbish it.”
He said demolishing the entire building if it was still okay in terms of structure would be very expensive.
“To do that – building and rebuild – is unnecessary.”
DA Johannesburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the party needed to see the reports of the structural engineer’s experts to tell them how long it would take the city to make the building usable.
“We believe there is something sinister happening that has created an environment for somebody to benefit, and we do not know the details.
“We believe if those details are not made public, it becomes very difficult to verify what they are saying.”
She said the current state in which the city found itself could have been avoided if JPC could have maintained the building.
“There are historical buildings that are hundreds of years old in the city and the country. Regular maintenance has been able to save these buildings.
“What happened to the budgets that are allocated to JPC every year? Why are the buildings not maintained?
“Our view is that if maintenance was done, this could have been avoided.”
Tebogo Moraka, group chief financial officer in the City of Joburg, said the R2 billion estimate was premature because the city needed to look at all options.
One of these, he said, was a public-private partnership, following a proposal about 10 years ago to turn the entire precinct around the Metro Centre into accommodation and shops .
“Any private investor who would come in, would then reap the benefits of accommodation,” Moraka said.
“The city does not have the money because we have too many priorities for us to be investing billions in one building.
“Those billions are better invested in water, electricity, public safety and all the other service delivery initiatives that we need to provide.
“We would rather build a building like that, bring in a private investor, let them get their returns over several years and, after that, they hand over the complete infrastructure to the city.”
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