Refilwe Stadium refurbishments still ‘nearing’ completion

Refurbishments to Refilwe Stadium in Cullinan are near completion after at least R10-million had been allocated for upgrades to the stadium located in Region 5, east of Pretoria.

Deputy Mayor and MMC of community and social development services Dr Nasiphi Moya said the refurbishment is nearing completion on June 6.

In April last year, the Tshwane department under former MMC Peggy de Bruin had previously made the same “nearing completion” promise.

Moya welcomed the news that completion was nearing this time and that the tabling of the City’s 2024/25 budget would make provisions to see out the upgrades to the key sporting facility in Cullinan.

The renovation that began in 2013 was due for completion in 2023 but complications related to the contractor took the stadium to only 95% completion in 2023 after the Tshwane metro had invested R80-million.

Moya said she visited the stadium in March and expressed the urgency for community members to finally see it complete.

She had requested an investigation to probe why the refurbishment had taken so many years.

“Once completed, the stadium will be enhanced with a 3 000-capacity grandstand, soccer pitch, clubhouse and a gym fully equipped with showers.”

It further consists of an athletics track, changing rooms, a parking lot, internal roads, walkways for pedestrians, storage rooms, a guard house and offices.

Moya added the stadium will be a valuable asset to the community at large and, as such, the city encourages members of the community to embrace the facility and protect it against vandalism.

She said the benefit of having such a sporting facility is that it will also serve as a place to hone football skills, entrepreneurship and an employment opportunity during events and games.

“It will serve a greater purpose for the good of the community.”

The metro had issues with contractors earlier in the construction of the stadium.

It however brought in a third contractor and said it was more competent than the previous two, to wrap up the project.

The ‘White Elephant’ stadium was allocated a budget worth R80-million in 2013 but construction dragged on for almost 11 years, and when it stopped, the remaining budget stood at R8.5-million.

Moya estimated completion would require an additional R11.5-million injection.

According to her, the previous contractors had been terminated due to poor performance and failure to fulfil contractual obligations.

She believed that a competent service provider who was financially sound would complete the outstanding 5% work on the stadium within six months.

Moya said the new contractor however still needed to be vetted.

“Control measures such as critical path will be strictly managed and monitored to ensure the project is completed within the time, cost and quality. The Internal Enterprise Project Management Unit will also be deployed to assist the department in completing the project within the prescribed timelines and budget,” she said.

“However, because the rates in the contract were rated in 2015, it is estimated that the outstanding work will [cost a total of] R20-million taking into consideration the current rate.”

According to her, the first joint contractors appointed in 2013 to build the stadium had conflicts among themselves in the first six months of their appointment.

“The fighting affected the progress of the project. The city tried to mediate, but couldn’t assist until one partner withdrew from the joint venture.”

She said the city was left with no choice but to terminate the contract, which caused some delays.

Moya said in 2018 the project was fully capacitated in terms of resources such as a full team of consultants and contractors.

“Sadly from 2019 to early 2020, the whole world was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic that also caused delays to the project as numerous extensions of time were granted due to the pandemic.”

Moya said unfortunately the second contractor failed to execute the project as per the contractual obligation due to financial challenges.

“The revised completion date was March 31 last year. Due to poor performance, the project didn’t reach the practical completion on the said date,” Moya told Rekord.

She said the city terminated the services of the contractors and a forensic investigation into the project was being initiated to identify any possible wrongdoing by those involved.

Moya said depending on the outcome of the forensic investigation, the contractor could face blacklisting.

“This investigation will encompass the procurement process, project management practices and recommendations to prevent similar occurrences in future projects,” Moya said.

“It was encouraging to note that these facilities are readily accessible to the community, shaping a promising future within our infrastructure. Tshwane remains committed to the upkeep and maintenance of community infrastructure to ensure they serve their intended purpose for the benefit of the residents,” she said.

“We want Refilwe residents to know we are fighting for them and if there’s one thing I can provide to them, it will be this stadium. So we have to fight the good fight and apologise to this community because this is uncalled for, especially because they had a facility and we took it away for 11 years.”

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