Government blamed for library reopening delays
The contract for the project was awarded at over R18-million.
A Gauteng provincial government department was reportedly behind the delay in the reopening of the library in Akasia, north of Pretoria.
“The Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation has not yet handed the facility over to the City of Tshwane,” local ward councillor Petrus Malope said.
Malope was unable to elaborate on when the library would be reopened.
“It is not certain when the facility will be handed over,” Malope said.
Rekord had sent numerous enquiries to the department’s spokesperson, Nomazwe Ntlokwana, on the delay in the reopening.
However, no response had been received by our time of going to print.
Previously, former ward 4 councillor Ridge Petersen said the library would only be done when the “snag list” of what still had to be done was completed.
The snag list is a list of small things that needed to be done before a building or project was completely finished.
“The library should have been handed over on May 30 last year, but after inspection, it was determined that there was an outstanding snag list that needed to be completed,” he said.
The list, Petersen said at the time, included the finalisation of the paving; general cleaning out the area; addressing minor internal and external defects; a pedestrian crossing; and for the main contractor to provide proof of a fully paid utility bill before they left the site and submitted a complete file.
Despite the list, delays experienced in the completion of the relocation and refurbishment of the library were reportedly due to an impasse at the site between the main contractor (Gauteng arts and culture) and Gauteng infrastructure development departments.
“The impasse was over late and non-payments among other things,” Petersen said.
He further said that the initial duration of the “fast-tracked” project was expected to be 12 months, after the department was handed over on October 16, 2017.
The contract for the project was awarded at over R18-million.
In April 2021, an update by the Gauteng provincial government on progress at the library explained that the project had taken too long to complete due to community disruptions.
These disruptions then led to labour rates being outdated and unattractive to skilled artisans.
The update also clarified that the initial completion date for the project was October 28, 2018, but was pushed back to the end of April 2021.
The provincial government’s update came after a site visit by Tasneem Motara of infrastructure development and property management.
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During her visit, she insisted that the project should be completed by April 30, 2021.
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