MBOMBELA – The municipality earlier this week accepted full responsibility for the disastrous project on Friedenheim Road.
Municipal manager, Neil Diamond, who joined the City of Mbombela about 18 months ago with financial recovery being his main objective, said that the project has already cost taxpayers much more than it should have.

Someone needs to be punished for allowing this project to get out of hand. In the past 18 months, I have been able to pick some low-hanging fruit, but projects like this, which is ridden with maladministration, cannot be fixed overnight,” he said.

Figures Lowvelder has seen show that the total cost of the project over mutiple years was initially set at R45 million. The budget for 2017/18 alone was R14 million. To date, a total of R46 million has been spent and construction is nowhere near completion.

Here’s how the closure of Fredenheim Road might affect you

Construction on the road began in March 2016 and has since been plagued by delays.

October 16 was the new deadline for the widening of Friedenheim Road, but it is more than a year behind schedule, much to the chagrin of motorists and local business owners.

Operations have yet again came to a screeching halt, and it seems like a waiting period of another month is imminent.

The wait is far from over 

“November 30 is the absolute deadline for this phase of the project,” Diamond said.
He explained that the construction was put on hold to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment – after the project had started – as the area sits in a wetland.

The City’s agreement with the contractor and the consultant forced it to continue paying them while no work was done.

Sanley van der Merwe, DA councillor, said the site was a mess.

“The contractors were consistently not paid on time. When they halt operations, they accumulate standing time and lose work, so the municipality has to pay double for time and plant hire. There was as massive lack of planning and communication. The municipality would pay the site engineer but not the contractor, when both needed payment,” she said.

Diamond added that every time more money is needed due to unexpected interruptions, a massive process follows before a completely new deviation can be approved.

“It’s not like a petty cash, where you can just take more and more money. The municipality’s money is highly regulated. Transgressions like these are highly punishable, criminal offences. Two wrongs don’t make a right. We need to remain above board by avoiding irregular expenditure at all cost,” he said.

He added that a second deviation was signed off last week, which will enable the project to resume soon.
The widening of the road required the construction of retaining walls and the relocation of existing electrical, water, sewer, stormwater and Telkom utilities, to mention a few.

The section in front of Hoërskool Nelspruit’s sports grounds has been completed. A small section that extends from Timmerhout/Kragbron Street to Suikerriet Street commenced on August 5 and will remain closed for another month.

The wait is, however, far from over as more roadworks will commence in the new year, which will include the rebuilding of the railway bridge on Friedenheim.

Diamond, along with the general manager of the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport and the project manager, now meet regularly to plan ahead, and discuss areas which need intervention.

“We will ensure that everything is in place before the next phase of the project kicks off,” he said.
He apologised to the community for the “inexcusable mishap” caused by the delays on this project.