UPDATE: Orchards Clinic ready to resume
ORANGE GROVE – Following an investigation and firing of an engineer, the Orchards Clinic's construction is set to resume.
The Johannesburg Development Agency has announced that the design solution for the Orchards Clinic in Orange Grove has been finalised and work will resume.
The construction of the clinic was suspended in March last year due to a structural problem in the clinic. Following an investigation and consulting a specialist engineer, the solution developed will strengthen certain elements in the clinic that have been identified as poorly designed. Spokesperson for the Johannesburg Development Agency, Susan Monyai said, “It is expected that the construction of the corrective measures will start from the 19 February 2018.”
Read: Orchards Clinic still closed
Christo Botes, acting chief executive officer of the JDA said, “The corrective work will take about six months to complete from the start date. The clinic is planned for completion in November 2018 when it will be handed to the Health Department of the City of Johannesburg.”
The clinic is a R40-million state-of-the-art health centre which forms part of the City’s Corridors of Freedom project, with the intent of providing improved health care services to residents in Orange Grove and surrounding areas.
The clinic, located along Louis Botha Avenue, has been under construction since 2015.
Monyai added, “The contract with the previously appointed structural engineers has been terminated and a legal process has been implemented to claim certain damages from the firm and is currently underway.”
Ward 74 councillor David Fisher said, “I am very encouraged that the project has been rescued and that work has started on the remedial phase.
“I appeal to the residents in the immediate vicinity of the clinic to be patient and tolerant during the inevitable noise, dust and disruption that comes with the continuation of construction.
Read: Gauteng clinics steadily improving
“I have been assured that measures will be deployed to minimise the disruption but construction always has an impact on the surrounding area.”
Fisher concluded that when the clinic is completed at the end of this year, it will contribute to the upliftment of the dignity and social fabric of the area.
Details:www.jda.org.za
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