After a two-year break, work has resumed on a controversial Buffalo City Metro project to eradicate pit toilets, which has run millions of rands over budget.
The metro has now negotiated an agreement with the main contractor, Imvusa Trading 595CC, to pay a further R13m to continue with the project, instead of the R26.6m originally demanded.
The company was awarded a R19m tender in 2015 to carry out the bulk water and sanitation project in Gqozo Village in Mdantsane’s NU1, where the company was appointed to deliver taps and flushing toilets to about 200 houses in a community that has used pit toilets for more than 20 years.
However, the company stopped working in 2016, demanding R26.6m more after discovering the site was far rockier than first believed.
Following an investigation, BCM offered R13m for the project to continue.
The contractor said the engineering consultants hired by the metro failed to conduct geo-technical surveys before the huge tender was awarded.
BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said: “We can confirm that the budget for the project has been increased by R13.8m, which takes the contract to R33.2m. This was as per the independent engineer’s recommendation and will be used to complete the works.”
Ngwenya admitted that the increment was caused by geo-technical surveys that were not done prior to the awarding of the tender.
However, he did not specify which company should have carried out the surveys.
Ron Beard Associates were the consulting engineers for the project but Ron Beard did not want to answer questions when contacted by the Daily Dispatch this week. He referred all questions to BCM.
Although the Daily Dispatch understands that the teams leading the project in BCM and at Ron Beard Associates had been changed, Ngwenya said: “No team was changed. Instead the team was beefed up.
“The most important outcome of this process is to ensure that our people get the quality services they deserve,” he said.
Alarm bells started to sound at a heated council meeting in 2017, when BCM head of infrastructure Nceba Ncunyana tabled the increment report, asking councillors to note it.
In it, Ncunyana proposed that the contract value be increased by a staggering R26.6m. The proposal was rejected.
This resulted in deputy mayor Zoliswa Matana, ANC councillors Sindiswa Gomba, Crosby Kolela and the DA’s Terence Fritz calling for the contract to be investigated.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch this week, Imvusa Trading 595 CC project director Manzini Zungu said: “The council has approved R13m and we will deliver flushing toilets in 204 yards.
“But I can tell you now that even the approved R13m will not be enough to finish the project because the prices have escalated since 2015, when the tender was awarded for labour rates, fuel prices and the actual material used to build these toilets.”
Zungu said at least 80 toilets would be ready for use by the end of the month, weather permitting.
“We are pushing that by Christmas this year at least 150 homes will have their new toilets. The new completion date for the whole project is May 2019,” he added...