The construction project for the new school building of Dome Combined School in Fourth Avenue, Parys, is in an advanced stage, with completion anticipated to be achieved by the end of May this year. Relocation of learners will proceed immediately thereafter, the Departement of Education said in answer to questions from Parys Gazette.

In the Department’s respons, it was also confirmed that the contractor is temporarily off site due to a delay in payment following the exhaustion of the allocated budget shortly before the close of the 2025/26 financial year.

“This is not uncommon in the final quarter of the financial year cycle, particularly for infrastructure projects that extend over multiple months or years,” the Department further said.

The Department gave the assurance that with the commencement of the new financial year on April 1, 2026, the outstanding invoices (including that of the contractor in question) will be settled in the next couple of weeks, which will enable the contractor to return to site without delay.  

The contractor, White Leopard, originally started the building project in August 2022. It was then said that the project would be completed by the end of January 2025. Completion of the project has in the past been delayed due to various challenges.

Despite earlier anticipation in November 2025 that learners would be on the new premises during the first quarter of the 2026 academic year, learners and personnel were back in their temporary classrooms at the beginning of the second term of the 2026 academic year that started today, Wednesday, April 9.

Free State MEC for Public Works and Infrastructure, Dibolelo Mance, during her oversight visit to the construction site in 2025, urged contractors and departments to intensify efforts to complete infrastructure projects on time, saying communities deserve prompt and efficient service delivery. Mance then emphasised the importance of accountability and urgency in delivering projects to client departments.

The MEC inspected the construction site to assess progress and ensure that measures are in place to accelerate completion and occupation, emphasising that finishing on time reduces costs and prevents unnecessary delays.

She promised to keep the project under her radar and pledged to engage with the Department of Roads and Transport regarding the condition of roads leading to the school.

By November 2025 the project was 77% completed, including 24 classrooms, three Grade R rooms, computer labs, a media centre, an administration block, a multi-purpose hall, a kitchen, a tuck shop, ablution facilities for learners and staff, and offices for heads of departments.

The land where the school is currently situated was zoned for educational purposes way back in the seventies. The mobile classrooms were a temporary measure, and a permanent structure has been needed for a long time.

In 2020, engineers visited the school premises and confirmed that the clay soil and wetland would make preparing the land and building too expensive. As safety and cost need to be considered, the decision was then made to build on the municipal ground in Fourth Avenue, and is a joint venture of the Department of Education and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.