Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala inspecting unfinished work at the Parys Correctional Facility. Image:Twitter @sziks
Sihle Zikalala calls for prosecution of fraudulent contractors
Zikalala calls for an audit on incomplete and blocked projects estimated to exceed R1billion
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala inspecting unfinished work at the Parys Correctional Facility. Image:Twitter @sziks
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala, has called for the prosecution and blacklisting of contractors who claim millions in government tenders and do not complete the work. This comes after the minister visited the incomplete R232 million Correctional Service Centre in Parys as well as the Bloemfontein Police Station.
Multimillion Rand incomplete projects
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Zikalala was accompanied by Public Works and Infrastructure MEC in the Free State Dibolelo Mance as well as Community Safety, Roads and Transport MEC Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae.
The department has spent millions on both these facilities, yet none have been complete and are behind by four years.
“As government we can no longer tolerate this tendency of projects being halted due to construction company incapacities. We need to have projects delivered on time and within scope. This calls for proper project planning, monitoring and consequence management”
“In one project, three different companies were appointed but the projects are still incomplete. We need to respond to this challenge of failing contractors especially after some monies have been paid. This is unacceptable.”
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Echoeing the ministers sentiments, Mance refuses for government to take the fall for incomplete and failed projects.
“Someone has to take responsibility. It can’t be that the name of our government is tarnished by companies and persons who do not see the value in the work that the government is providing for our communities”, says the MEC.
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EDWIN SODI
Last week, the department confirmed the cancellation of a contract between them and one of Edwin Sodi’s companies NJR Projects, due to poor performance.
The tender tycoon had been awarded the contract worth R282million to upgrade the Parys Correctional Services facility from a 65bed facility to 240 bed facility.
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The tender awarded in 2018, had only 40 percent of the work done by the time the department terminated the contract in February. However, Sodi had already pocketed R130million.
Zikalala will meet with the Infrastructure Built Environment Anti-Corruption Forum to evaluate the work done to alleviate the threats of corruption and fraud within the construction and infrastructure sector.
