Picture: The road construction project in Molelema
By OBAKENG MAJE
North MEC for Public Works and Roads, Gaoage Oageng Molapisi is expected to meet with various stakeholders including community members to make pronouncement regarding the 15km road construction project that links Molelema and Matsheng in Taung.
Molapisi said the Road Project number PWR239/14 for the upgrading gravel to surface standard road D209, D208, D206, D997, D220 and Z216 has been on hold due to a dispute between his department and the contractor, which has since been resolved.
“We will convene a community meeting to re-introduce the contractor and sod-turning ceremony. The proceeding will take place at Matsheng Community Hall at 2pm,” he said.
In 2021, a road construction project worth over R65 million was brought to a grinding halt after the department terminated the contract of the contractor, Botong Nkolele JV Construction over the obligation dispute.
However, the director of Botong Nkolele JV Construction, Daddy Tong took the matter for an arbitration and won the case in December 2021. The department was allegedly instructed to reinstate the Botong Nkolele JV Construction, but that did not happen.
Last year, residents decided to fix the road by grading it.
One of the residents, Pogisho Afrika said, they have decided to fix the road because the deterioration of the road hits home on a personal level. He said they have requested each household to donate R5, while motorists donate R10.
“As locals, we fixed this road by grading the road using wheelbarrows. We are grateful because we have received unwavering support from our people. We have lost hope of getting any tarred road in our area. Recently, we have experienced torrential rains and our roads are inaccessible.
“This is all happening because of the perceived ineptitude of the department. It is difficult to run our errands without an accessible road. We also experience difficulties to access healthcare centres, in terms of emergency,” Afrika said.
At the time, the contractor, Daddy Tong said: “At this stage, the department has not adjudicated our claims to the value of about R25 million. They have been mute and never responded to our plea for adjudication and processing of payments. This matter is part of the issues we have included in our court proceedings.
“Prior to this, the department had defaulted in the payment of two invoices. We submitted invoice of R15 million on 12 July 2020, and it was only paid on 28 December 2020. We also submitted another invoice on 24 August 2020, and it was only paid on 30 April 2021,” he said.
Tong further said all invoices were paid after a struggle, even though there was no valid reason issued by the department to explain the delay. He added that the dispute started on 2 June 2020 after the department realised that they had made a gross error.
“They did not follow correct procedure when awarding a contract. In terms of procurement and contract requirements, the department was supposed to identify errors in the pricing of the contractor prior awarding of contract.
“This is called arithmetic error correction and they failed to follow the procedure prior awarding of the contract on 27 September 2019. The contract is a re-measurable contract and that means the price of R65 918 991.18 awarded does not necessarily entail final price once the work is completed,” he said.
The Guardian 