ONCE again thieves have caused a costly delay to the John Ross Parkway construction project.
In the latest of many incidents, an expensive specialised cutting machine being used to dismantle the old road-over-rail bridge at Empangeni Rail, was stripped.
A local electrical contractor said the heart of the machine, comprising the entire electrical system, had been stolen from the site on Monday night.
‘To replace the entire machine costs about a quarter-of-a-million rand and the cost of down time, penalties and deadlines must be added,’ he said.
The owner of the company sub-contracted for the work, Frans Prinsloo of AMFRA Maintenance Services, confirmed the theft and that the wires and switchgear had been stolen.
He said to replace such parts would cost about R80 000.
‘The parts need to be shipped in from overseas which causes a great delay and in the interim we have resorted to using extra equipment which means greater costs and extended hours,’ said Prinsloo.
The company responsible for security at the site has opened a case of theft at the Empangeni police and the matter is under investigation.
According to Prinsloo, a crane to lift materials from the old bridge is expected to arrive on Monday at an estimated cost of R30 000 a day.
‘It is critical that the work is completed by Monday. That is our deadline and under no circumstance can we afford delays,’ added Prinsloo.
According to a source who wishes to remain anonymous, the theft of mechanical parts has been a great obstruction.
‘Just after this incident, a radiator was stolen. It causes such great delays. At one point we would arrive on site and the diesel would be completely drained from the tank. We’ve resorted to putting padlocks on the caps,’ said the source.
The general theft along the John Ross Parkway road works has caused a tremendous loss of time and equipment.
This includes the cost of ‘thief-proofing’ robots where cables have been regularly stolen, with almost R2-million spent on preventative measures at the eSikhaleni intersection alone.
