Pretoria - The multimillion-rand project to upgrade Tsamaya Road, also known as K54, in Mamelodi township had to be stopped because of illegal encroachments on the road reserves.
This was revealed by the City of Tshwane’s MMC for roads and transport, Katlego Mathebe, following her recent engagement with the Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela.
The Tsamaya Road project was started in 2018 and financed by the Gauteng provincial government at a cost of R440 million.
It was expected to take 30 months for the construction of a north-bound dual carriageway, two bridges over the railway line, cycle and pedestrian paths, as well as taxi lay-bys. It is, however, not yet completed.
Mathebe said encroachments of road reserves also remained a challenge for upgrading the K69 or Solomon Mahlangu Drive.
Challenges affecting Solomon Mahlangu Drive, which was launched in 2019, also led to delays in the R300m project.
It was anticipated that the project would be completed by August 2021, but work to expand the number of lanes of the existing carriageway is still under way.
The upgrading of the K69 was informed by the need to ease traffic congestion during peak hours.
Diale-Tlabela visited the projects in December last year and raised concerns that the delays with the projects had forced the government to go over budget, which constituted a financial irregularity.
“The K69 has been delayed, and it is taking from the public purse, and it is because somebody didn’t do their job to ensure that we appoint the correct service provider,” she said at the time.
She said the service provider appointed under-quoted the work and had to beg for more finances after realising that the expenses on-site were higher than was anticipated.
Mathebe said her recent meeting with Diale-Tlabela was aimed at strengthening intergovernmental matters with Tshwane and the Gauteng Roads and Transport Department.
“Key to these discussions includes ensuring that both spheres of government consider all possible ways within the legal frameworks to avoid disrupting subsidised transport in the region and fully service passengers.
“The City is also engaging with the provincial department to rehabilitate priority roads as set out in the memorandum of understanding envisaged with the City of Tshwane,” Mathebe said.
The department, she said, was committed to fast-tracking existing capital projects that had already started in the municipality.
Asked about deadlines for rehabilitating priority roads, she said the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport was “currently engaging with the City to conclude the envisaged memorandum of understanding on these specific details. Once these have been finalised, such information will be made available.”
“The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport had committed to intervene on the municipality roads upon the approval of the business case by the Treasury,” she said.
Pretoria News