THE community of Belfast, Somerset, and Justicia feel cheated by the construction company responsible for the road upgrade of the D4382 Road near the Kruger National Park between Belfast, Somerset, and Justicia in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality in Ehlanzeni District.
Residents of the three communities have accused the project contractor Khulane Quality Plant Hire of doing “shoddy” work on a project that will cost the taxpayer R114 million.
After six months of delays, the project appears to finally be underway, however, the community feels that this is a “disaster” in the making as there was no preparation for the tar installation.
Another challenge raised by a Belfast community member who asked not to be named, said the contractor responsible for the project had a history of failing to deliver on projects.
“The other issue we are dealing with is the bribery of some bullies who call themselves community leaders. Instead of demanding answers on the quality of the construction being wrongly done, they unashamedly take bribes and threaten the rest of us who genuinely want service delivery,” said the community member.
Somerset community members also expressed disappointment in how the project which they have waited 30 years for was being handled.
While Donald Zitha vowed not to allow the poor construction to continue in other areas where the project is meant to reach, 36-year-old Nameck Zitha said that he was failing to understand the process of bidding and how an alleged inexperienced contractor won.
“The contractor failed in three other projects, they never finished in other communities but somehow, the same company was awarded this massive project. In Justicia, they failed to complete a road pavement project and in Kildare, she could not complete a water reticulation project,” said Shabangu.
Bongani Sibuyi blamed nepotism and favouritism, arguing that it had caused huge damage to the growth and development of many communities in Bushbuckridge.
“The project should have been awarded to the right people with experience and ensure that there is less interference from community leaders,” he said.
Other community members lamented the targeting of those who spoke out about the inconsistencies of the project.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, Roads, and Transport, Bongani Dhlamini, came to the defence of the contractor, arguing that the company has done various maintenance projects for the department over the years.
“They completed the rehabilitation of Road P29/1 near Kendal power station… The Belfast project has sufficient quality control measures to ensure that the project is delivered to the specifications, these measures include specifications (for construction materials and workmanship/construction method) as designed by the engineers, process control by the contractor, and quality assurance by the engineer’s site supervision team, which includes a site materials testing laboratory,” said Dhlamini.
Furthermore, he stated that payment was only made for work done when the specifications had been met after carrying out the specified quality assurance inspection and testing.
He also denied allegations that there was a relationship between the contractor and the Mpumalanga Department of Public Works, Roads, and Transport MEC, Mandla Ndlovu.
“The MEC is expecting the project to be completed and so far he has not raised any reservations about the success of the project.
“The contractor is a client of the department, and other than that we don’t have any information except the contractual obligations of the project,” said Dhlamini.
Residents of Belfast near the Kruger National Park have on several occasions embarked on violent protest action, demanding a tarred road, causing serious disruptions and road closures leading to the Kruger Gate.
In November, Ndlovu held a sod-turning ceremony for the upgrading of the D4382 Road near the Kruger National Park between Belfast, Somerset, and Justicia in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality in Ehlanzeni District of the Mpumalanga province.
At the time, MEC Ndlovu promised the community that the project would be completed within 22 months. However, six months later, the 13.6km tar road project appears to be characterised by serious delays.
Last week, one of the sub-contractors involved in the project said it would take a few years to complete, as there were problems with inexperienced contractors who were part of the project.
“We are six months behind schedule. There is no way we will be able to complete the 13km road project on time. We had to go back to the drawing board and do serious excavation, match the new levels, and then prepare for the roadbed which might take weeks,” said the sub-contractor.
He said that he was perturbed because the community was getting frustrated and the matter had the potential to escalate and delay the project.
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za