LIMPOPO – THE Greater Giyani Municipality has dismissed DA councillor, Richard Shivambu‘s allegations that it has abandoned the construction of its municipal offices at the civic centre.
Last Wednesday, Shivambu said the DA had requested the public protector, Adv Thuli Madonsela’s office to institute an investigation into the municipality for allegedly abandoning the incomplete municipal civic centre that had thus far cost taxpayers over R50 million.
He said in the 2013/2014 financial year, the municipality allocated a staggering R40 million for the extension of the municipal civic centre but the contractor had vanished without completing the project.
He further alleged no measures were taken by the municipality to trace and force the contractor to complete the project. “In the 2014 to 2016 medium-term revenue and expenditure approved by council in March 2014, a further R16 million was allocated to complete the project, without seeking a comprehensive report regarding the delay in completion of the project,” Shivambu said. “It is absolutely unacceptable that the municipality can build a multimillion rand building that has no use,” he continued.
Greater Giyani Municipality spokesperson, Steve Mavunda, last Tuesday said the Giyani civic centre project was structured in two phases and phase one was a ‘super structure’.
“This project phase entails the construction of concrete works which the contractor was appointed to do on August 19, 2012 with a budget of R15 million; the contractor was granted extension of time to accommodate the casting of the council chamber roof panels. This phase was practically completed on November 19 last year.We need to emphasise that neither the contractor nor the municipality abandoned the building, but the contractor only left the site because he had completed his work scope on phase one. Expenditure on this phase is R15 million and not R50 million as the ill-informed source alleged.
“A tender for phase two was advertised in November 2014 and the appointed contractor was handed over the site officially in June this year. The duration of this project is estimated at plus or minus 15 months. We have not spent anything so far on phase two,” he said.
R50m civic centre left abandoned in Giyani
