Umzimkhulu Bridge repair delays: KZN Transport addresses payment crisis
The department says contractors and service providers have started receiving payments that were long overdue.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport says contractors and service providers have started receiving their payments.
Officials say R700 million has been paid so far, following lengthy delays that stalled major infrastructure projects in the province.
These include the Umzimkhulu River Bridge on the south coast, where reconstruction was meant to have been completed in October last year.
Transport says checks in place to ensure timeous payments
The department’s spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya says the development follows a meeting in Merebank between service providers and the Head of the Department Zibusiso Dlamini.
“It was agreed that an invoice checking war room chaired by the HOD himself should meet every Friday to track progress on the payment of invoices. The HOD is setting up a system and assigning a team from finance that will be on standby to communicate with the contractors and service providers with a high sense of humility, honesty and professionalism.
“According to MEC Siboniso Duma, we can state without a shadow of a doubt that management and all categories of staff have internalized the importance of ushering in a new era characterized by efficiency and speed.”
Questions mount over bridge repairs
Earlier this year, the Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal questioned provincial transport authorities about when repairs to the uMzimkhulu River Bridge and upgrades to the R102 on the KZN south coast would be completed.
The party claimed delays to the two projects are costing residents in and around Port Shepstone time and money.
The bridge was shut last March for emergency repairs after it was damaged by floods.
The repair work was due to take six months but is yet to be completed nearly a year later.
The DA's KZN spokesperson on Transport, Riona Gokool, says they are deeply concerned by reports that the work has stalled because contractors have not been paid.
"Nearly a year after emergency repairs were announced, residents are still facing daily gridlock while businesses and families suffer the economic impact. The DA's calling for an urgent public progress report, immediate payment of contractors, strict enforcement of penalties for missed deadlines, and a clear revised completion timeline."
She says the toll fees local motorists are having to pay on the alternative route should also be suspended until the bridge is fully reopened.
KZN Transport later admitted to cash flow challenges.
Sibiya said that criminal activity is also hindering progress on the projects.
"From our budget of between R13 billion and R14 billion, we need about R1.2 billion every month to pay for contractors. But unfortunately, this money, which is kept by the Treasury, we get R500 million to R600 million at times. In December, we received about R200 million, leaving many other contractors in limbo in terms of payments."
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