DA questions the delay in rebuilding the Vereeniging Taxi Rank
Democratic Alliance (DA) member of the Provincial Legislature, Kingsol Chabalala, says the continued delay of the rebuilding of the Vereeniging Taxi Rank project is impacting negatively on taxi operators as they continue working under unbearable conditions.
VEREENIGING. – Chabalala states that the issue has also affected businesses and informal traders operating in the vicinity of the taxi rank.
“Most businesses have had to close their doors since the beginning of the project and this has resulted in many people losing their jobs.”
In 2021, the DA created a petition calling for the urgent rebuilding of the Vereeniging Taxi Rank. The petition has since been adopted by the petition standing committee of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
Chabala has since questioned the delay of the project which will be undertaken by the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) as announced by the Gauteng MEC for Public Transport and Road Infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo.
In his reply to Chabalala’s questions, Mamabolo stated that he formally requested assistance in relation to the Vereeniging Intermodal Facility, from the Gautrain Management Agency in May 20221.
“The budget allocated by the Provincial Treasury and the Department of Roads and Transport is R11,1 million for the 2021/22 Financial Year and R7,5 million for the 2022/23 Financial Year.
“This is to cover the design and project preparation costs for the project. The project is being undertaken in two stages which entails project definition and a business case in terms of the directives of the Gauteng Provincial Treasury and applicable standard operating procedures of which stage two entails Design, Procurement, and Implementation.”
Mamabolo said given the unsafe and unsatisfactory condition of the current taxi facilities, it was decided that the construction works on the Vereeniging intermodal transport facility project will be implemented in two phases which include repairs to the temporary taxi facilities and the completion of the partially completed main taxi facility.
Mamabolo however stated that the start date is not known and is dependent on the approval of the business case by the Provincial Treasury.
“The current Project Programme is based on a 12-month period from approval to final handover of the Phase 1 improvement to the current facilities and 24 months from approval to final handover for the main facility. The design and project preparation costs depend on the final scope of work to be carried out on each of the facilities.
At this stage the business cases are not finalised.”
Chabalala states that the incompletion of the Taxi Rank is slowly turning the town into a ghost town.
