Billing drama puts R26m Limpopo road project on hold

A road project worth R26 million in Limpopo has been stopped following a dispute between the contractor and the Greater Tzaneen Municipality over a bill that amounts to twice the original bid amount of the project.

The 5.8km road project is meant to be delivered by Tshiamiso Trading 135 Construction Company. The company is run and owned by construction mogul Bruce Mhlaba of the Mhlaba Traditional Authority.

The project is 75% complete and stretches from Letsitele to Mulati Village outside Tzaneen.

The protracted impasse between the municipality and the contractor has the potential to result in more than 100 people losing their jobs.

According to Mhlaba, his company was appointed in January this year for a period of 18 months to deliver the road in Mulati Village.

The project commenced on January 21 and is expected to be completed by June 2020. It was appointed at a cost of R26 million with a bid of quantity to a further R26 million.

Apart from its primary objective of creating jobs for the Mulati community, the project was also poised to swell the local economy by influencing other developments in the area.

“But that may remain a mirage because each time I invoice the municipality, community members who are employed on the project stage a protest because the municipality is reluctant to pay,” said Mhlaba yesterday.

On Friday, a delegation comprising members of the National Council of Provinces, municipal managers, technical directors, chief financial officers and mayors from the Mopani region visited the project and gave it the thumbs-up.

“When we speak to the municipality about payment, they will tell us they don’t have money. They owe me close to R10 million but, surprisingly, the same municipality is able to appoint bouncers at a cost of R700,000 to protect councillors. They are also paying another security company doing the same job R1 million each month,” he said.

Spokesperson for the Greater Tzaneen Municipality, Nevil Ndlala, confirmed the municipality could not pay the contractor for the amount he invoiced them.

Ndlala also confirmed the project has been stopped due to the impasse.

“All we can say is that there is currently a contractual dispute between the contractor and the municipality,” said Ndlala.

The Citizen has seen a letter written by the engineer assigned to the project advising the municipality to engage the contractor about the drama pertaining to the bill of quantity. The letter states in part there was a mathematical error on the bill and that an urgent meeting should be sought with the contractor to discuss the error.

An ANC councillor within the municipality who wished to remain anonymous said the matter had divided the council into two factions.

“We don’t understand why the municipal manager was allowed to hand over the project when the engineer advised them about the error. It is also amazing that they now opt to stop the project after the fourth certificate of payment. The project is now 75% complete, why stop paying them now? Someone is going to be fired here,” said the councillor.

– news@citizen.co.za

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