Doubts cast over success of road project
MABITSI – The current state of the millions of rands worth Mabitsi road project outside Marble Hall within the Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality (EPMLM) has thrown residents into doubts with regard to its successful completion.
The residents qualms stem from parts of the road that have started to disintegrate as a result of the current downpours, questioning if the work is worth the millions of rands channeled towards the project.
This at the background of a controversial R22 million paid for the Mashemong/Mooihoek road project within the same local municipality which was left incomplete.
Seun Mogotji, Bolsheviks Party of South Africa leader, an opposition in EPMLM, said the municipality seemed incapable of doing anything right and it was about time it was placed under administration.
Mogotji charged: “Which criteria is used or who decides which contractor gets awarded these multimillion rands tenders that end up with money meant for service delivery going down the drain. It can’t be a coincidence that the same municipality drops the ball in two separate road projects, a botched R22 million Mooihoek/Mashemong road and now the R35 million Mabitsi road project. This is a direct result of appointing incapable companies simply because they belong to friends or fellow comrades willing to grease a few palms.”
He concluded that they wanted EPMLM to provide answers and clarity on the Mabitsi road project’s evident disastrous state and that it was an embarrassment and an insult to the people of the area as they deserved better.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in EPMLM also raised concerns over the planning of the project worth millions of rands.
Flip Jacobs, DA Councillor in EPMLM, indicated that the project was poorly planned, especially at the lower lying areas of the village.
“Sand is eroding onto the road already and that shows the shoddiness of the work done there. Water is also starting to flow into some of the yards there as a result of poor planning of the project. That is the problem of the municipality’s infrastructure division which hires the same contractors for all the projects. That is a serious problem we are facing, that of cadre deployment,” concluded Jacobs.
Percy Moagi, EPMLM Spokesperson, said that the project, which amounts to R29, 721472, 28, started on 17 January 2022, was still under construction and scheduled for completion on 14 April 2023.
Moagi indicated that the damages on the roads were caused by heavy rainfalls that were experienced in the country since last year between November and December months.
“The contractor is currently off site and will resume with the necessary remedial work before end of January 2023,” further said Moagi.
