The construction of the Amajuba District Disaster Management Centre remains incomplete, this is despite the project commencing on 10 November 2014.
Newcastillian News reported on the delays in the construction of the Centre on 15 January 2021, where the Amajuba District Municipality explained that work on the facility came to a halt. This was due to the service provider failing to meet the necessary deadline, resulting in the contract between the Municipality and the service provider being terminated.
However, the Amajuba District Municipality stated this did not mean the District Municipality gave up on seeing a fully operational Disaster Management Centre in the district.
Following the termination of the agreement, a legal process, according to the Municipality, had to be followed. This hindered the process of setting up the facility.
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With the total expenditure of the Disaster Management Centre standing at just over R36 million, Newcastillian News followed up on the centre’s progress in May 2021.
Again, no further developments were made, with the District Municipality explaining at the time that it was currently in a process of procuring the service provider to do construction work.
With no service provider yet appointed, the reason for the delay apparently stemmed from quantifying the outstanding works and finalising the project designs for the tender. As a result, the tender would then only be advertised before the end of June 2021.
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Now two years on, the Amajuba District Municipality has confirmed that the construction of the Disaster Management Centre still remains incomplete.
However, there has been some development, with the Municipality’s Communications Unit stating that Vumesa Engineers were appointed in January 2023 to complete all outstanding works.
When looking at the delays and challenges hampering the completion of the Centre, the Municipality explained that poor performance by previously appointed service providers and high-cost escalations due to the Covid-19 pandemic/shutdown caused delays in the project.
With Vumesa Engineers being appointed, the District Municipality said, “Amajuba District Municipality has managed to overcome current challenges and appointed a Professional Service Provider to complete all outstanding works, and will have the Centre operational before the end of June 2023.”
Once complete, the District Municipality explained it will play a positive role as a secondary respondent to all Disaster events within the District by providing the required support to all Local Municipalities.
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Comments 1
Minister Godongwana throwing billions at dysfunctional municipalities (like this one) and SOEs, without demanding anti-corruption measures, means that he is facilitating the theft of taxpayer money by these entities