Work to level part of the property at the Sunninghill Taxi Rank is underway, but the City of Johannesburg said it is unaware of the current work and has no budget to implement the long-awaited expansion of the facility.

Ward 93 councillor Vino Reddy said an operation was conducted at the taxi rank on September 9 involving the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), and Pikitup, among others.

Read more: Taxi rank safety issues voiced

According to Reddy, one of the outcomes of the operation was for the JRA to level part of the property to create additional space for taxis as a temporary measure to prevent them from parking along the road.

He said the area also contained a large amount of dumped waste, including mattresses and sofas, and that the JRA was levelling the ground. However, the city said the work was not part of an approved implementation of the taxi-rank expansion project.

Responding to questions from the Fourways Review, Virgil James, on behalf of the city’s transport department, said a feasibility study for the expansion was conducted in 2021 and completed in 2022.

“The proposal is to expand the existing taxi facility to accommodate minibus taxis that are currently ranking on the street side in Sunninghill, creating traffic congestion,” James said.

The project received R1m during the 2021/22 financial year for the feasibility study, but James said no funding had been allocated for the project in the current 2026/27 financial year.

“Currently, there is no budget to take the project to the implementation stage.”

James attributed the delay in implementing the project to the city’s budget constraints, saying budget cuts had affected several projects, including the Sunninghill facility. The transport department is responsible for taking the project forward, but there is currently no confirmed timeline for construction.

Also read: Sunninghill Taxi Rank remains incomplete

“The transport department will implement the project when a budget allocation is approved,” James said. The city also said it was not aware of the current levelling of the property, adding that it would proceed with full implementation of the expansion once the budget was approved.

The planned expansion has been under consideration for several years, with the feasibility study intended to guide plans for the facility.

For now, the city has not confirmed whether the current levelling will provide temporary parking space for taxis, despite Reddy saying this was an outcome of the September 9 operation. JRA confirmed that while taxi ranks do not fall under its jurisdiction, it assists on special occasions such as this operation.

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