Believe it or not, the Krugersdorp CBD taxi rank is still under construction and it’s unclear when the project will be finished.
“Due to a shortage of steel at the main supplier, Macsteel, steel was delivered quite late and our consultant together with the contractor are developing a new work plan that will obviously have a new completion date. Without this happening, it’s difficult to advise on a new completion date,” explained Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) Acting Executive Manager of Economic Services, Vuyani Bekwa.
Contractors, appointed by MCLM broke ground for the project in May 2018. Three years and three months have since passed and most of the project has been completed, but the sections which remain only partially built see the rank still unused by the many taxies and commuters who used to frequent this influential business area. Business owners who rely on the foot traffic are becoming increasingly anxious with each missed deadline.
Read previous articles on the taxi rank here:
1. Taxi rank construction concerns escalate
2. Taxi Rank construction deadline missed again
3. Eiffel Tower built in less time than Mogale’s taxi rank
4. Community suffers as taxi rank construction halts
5. Taxi owners losing money as rank construction yet again delayed
6. Taxi owners losing money as rank construction yet again delayed
Currently, the shops are battling because of the decrease in business that came with the pandemic and lockdown regulations, an increase in burglaries, and a noticeable decrease in patron foot traffic in the area.
Ismaeel Kaka, owner of the Rank Supermarket across the road from the taxi rank claimed, “From February and March they were working nicely, and then in April it just died down again. In May and in June they closed for one week, and in July they closed for three weeks. They kept on promising it’s going to be finished by the third year, which was March. Nothing happened. I said to them they needed to speak to the council, get toilets operating and work with what they have.”
Bekwa responded by saying, “Although the facility can operate only as a taxi rank while construction is still underway, critical safety and health issues should also be considered. Informal traders naturally follow their primary clients who are taxi operators and commuters to the rank, which will see all parties in one space causing congestion. This is not feasible as, for example, falling objects, dust, noise, potential slips and other threats at the construction site will pose safety and possibly health hazards to all within that space.”
Kaka said he’s not sure as to how long it would be viable to keep his business in the area, saying that, “At best I will try until the end of the year. By January, I won’t be able to manage it anymore. We’re already losing business. A number of shops have closed since the rank closed. More and more shops are closing, and more and more people are losing their jobs.”
Like any other government entity, the MCLM does not want to lose businesses, and Bekwa said, “With this common concern in mind, we are committed to working hard and ensuring that the taxi rank opens before the end of the year”.
Addressing concerns that funds might have been reallocated from this project to help fund the Pangoville electrification project, Bekwa said, “No funds were reallocated from the taxi rank project to any other project. The Pangoville project falls under a separate functional area (Electricity) as well as department, therefore the transfer of funds can only be applicable between item segments and project segments within the same source of funding as guided by relevant Municipal policies, which are accessible for scrutiny on the Municipal website under Our Council and Policies tabs.”
