Picture: The Democratic Alliance delegates during oversight visit at D201 road construction project
By OBAKENG MAJE
The Democratic Alliance in North West said it is concerned about the delays marred the D201 road construction project. The R148m project is supposed to be completed and handed over to the community in November 2023.
However, the DA Shadow Minister of Public Works and Roads, Sello Seitlholo, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) said, that will be a mammoth task to complete.
Seitlholo and other DA delegates embarked on an oversight visit recently to assess the project.
“The situation is not promising at all. Remember, this is a 62 km road that starts from Pampierstad to Matlapaneng until N18 road. So, the 24km road is expected to be completed in November 2023, which is highly impossible. It was deliberate for us to do our oversight from the starting point until the end to determine how far the project is.
“What we have seen with our naked eye, it will be impossible for the road to be completed in November 2023. There are also allegations that the project was stopped because the so-called business forum, which is a syndicate of the construction mafias, has already imposed itself here,” he said.
Seitlholo further said it is alleged that the ‘construction mafias’ demanded 30% and also wanted their own people to come and work there. He added that the ‘construction mafias’ masquerading as business forums have stopped many projects across the country and cost the economy around R68 billion.
“We have written to the Lieutenant General, who is the Head of the Hawks’ Directorate of Priority Crimes to classify this criminal activity as a priority crime. On top of that, these construction mafias are taking away job opportunities that were supposed to benefit the locals.
“I also want to emphasise that, it is not always the case for rural municipalities to get projects, so it is important to ensure that these projects benefit the local communities. It is high time now for the treasury to review the particular 30% from the projects that must go to the SMMEs,” said Seitlholo.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Public Works and Roads, Oageng Molapisi said: “We are on course, but the information I have received is that there were some delays because the contractor had some cash flow problems. I am told he underquoted for the overlays, however, they are on course as a joint venture.
“They have submitted a cash plan and we are thinking that in terms of contractual obligations, there should be no problems. We understand that there are also 27 SMMEs that were identified, but only 17 of them are on site as we speak.”
Molapisi said as a department, they would like to see all projects being completed timeously including this one. He said he hopes that the contractor will meet the target as per contractual obligation.
“Well, if there are some delays, we will definitely inform the communities. So, our intention is to hand over this project by November 2023. I would not dwell much on construction mafias because we do not have that information.
“Yes, it is true that we have challenges regarding construction mafias masquerading as business forums and demanding 30% across the country, but we cannot label every business forum as a construction mafia syndicate,” said Molapisi.
The Guardian 