Millions more needed for Go!Durban project for work being done

The continued spending on the construction of the Go!Durban route has faced criticism following revelations that an additional R205 million is needed to finance work that was delayed due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

A report was tabled at an eThekwini Municipality council meeting last week for the council to approve a contract extension with an additional cost of R205 million to be spent on the project. The contract extension was approved. The money is for work being done between the Inanda arterial road and Marbleray Drive. The original contract for this leg of construction was pegged at R460 million.

The extra funds were needed to offset challenges brought on by work stoppages and new work that had to be done because the scope of the project kept changing, said some city councillors. The spending raised concerns among some political parties, who said a fortune had already been spent on the Go!Durban route with little or nothing to show as a benefit to the community.

The report on the matter stated that “council notes the intention to amend the contract for the Inanda project in order to complete work delayed due to unforeseen circumstances”.

Progress on the project has been slow. Earlier this year there was an announcement by the municipality that buses had been purchased and one route in particular, Pinetown to KwaMashu, would soon launch. This has not happened. Part of the challenge was the negotiations between taxi owners and the municipality. The Mercury learnt recently from taxi operators that one of the main stumbling blocks to the route going live was the ownership of the buses. The municipality wants to own a percentage of the buses, something the taxi operators object to.

The report on the contract extension goes on to say that the contract amendment was necessary in order to complete work that includes:

Opposition parties said the project needed to deliver for residents if such spending was to be approved. DA councillor Melanie Brauteseth said the Go!Durban integrated-bus system project was introduced to the residents of eThekwini in 2013.

“The sad reality is that eight years and R3bn later, there is little to show for it in the way of commuter transport. The C3 corridor is still not complete, and there is not a bus in sight on any of the routes despite promises they would be in place in September this year. Adding to this is the ongoing dispute between the taxi industry and the city and the business forums,” she said.

She said that the DA had asked for a progress report on the project, but to date there had been no response. “When a contractor exceeds its authority by 44%, this is due to poor planning, not unforeseen circumstances.” IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said they supported the extension of the contract, but “our main concern is that we have not seen any of the routes going live”.

Nkosi said the main issue with the contract was that most of the challenges arose from work stoppages. “We had warned the municipality that before embarking on the project there should be consultation with the business people (taxi) who operate on those routes.”