Despite rising costs, R80m North West road upgrade project has stalled

Despite costs to upgrade a road in central Mahikeng almost doubling — the overdue R79m road upgrade project has been hit by further delays.

Two weeks ago, workers downed tools and there was no work done for a week as the contractor struggles to complete work on a 4km stretch.

TimesLIVE Premium has established that the North West department of roads and public works had initially budgeted R52m for the project which was scheduled to be completed in September last year.

Nelson Mandela Drive is Mahikeng's busiest road. It has been undergoing upgrades since early last year, but the project has been hit by delays including allegations that the contractor, Khosi/Vuyo Logistics, did not have capacity to complete the work.

Khosi/Vuyo Logistics director Robson Ngqola has not responded to request for comment for two weeks, and had not responded to texts and an email by the time of publication.

The department was warned before the start of the project by consulting engineers Bigen Africa Services that Khosi/Vuyo Logistics might not have capacity for the job and recommended that the contract be terminated.

Bigen Africa Services had flagged a project programme which included traffic management plans and work schedules submitted by Khosi/Vuyo Logistics ahead of commencement of work.

MEC Saliva Molapisi's spokesperson, Lerato Gambu, said the department was aware of “labour-related disputes between the contractor and employees on the project”.

“However, the misunderstanding has been resolved and the project is on course,” Gambu said.

When TimesLIVE Premium visited the project, parts of the road were partially complete, but work on the underground storm water drainage system is incomplete.

Gambu said Molapisi was conducting regular oversight visits to the project with the head of department providing weekly updates to the executive authority.

“The department is charging the contractor penalties as per the terms of reference of the contract since December 1 2023 to date. The contractor has submitted a commitment letter to accelerate their programme to complete the works,” Gambu said.

On ignoring the warnings from Bigen Africa, Gambu said: “As the department our goal and interest is service delivery, however, we acknowledged the recommendations of the engineer ... the contractor was given an opportunity to remedy them and ensure that the project is completed.”

“The conditions of our contract allow for remedial action and catch-up plans in case the contractor is behind schedule,” Gambu said.

He said the department was managing the risk of fruitless expenditure by opting against terminating the contract with Khosi/Vuyo Logistics.

Khosi/Vuyo Logistics had put in a winning bid of R47m, but this was later increased to R79m by the department.

Gambu said this was caused by additional works on the project “such as culverts running beneath the road”.

“This also led to slow progress in completion of the road project, as the contractor initially struggled to source the type of culverts from suppliers in the required timelines,” Gambu said.

A similar road improvement project which was awarded around the same time by the department also encountered delays which culminated in the contractor terminating the R56m project on the R566 road which links Rosslyn and Brits.

The project to patch a busy 21km stretch of road has left at least eight people dead after the contractor, who was paid at least R20m, walked off the job, citing threat to life and property. It was awarded about the same time as the Mahikeng road upgrade project.

The department has already spent more than R54m on the Mahikeng project and believes 95% of the work will be completed by the end of May.

“The department wishes to state categorically that all supply chain management processes were followed to arrive at the appointment of the contractor for the Nelson Mandela Road project,” Gambu said.