Members of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature (MPLS) alongside permanent delegates of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) visited Kuruman, a town in the John Taolo Gaetsewe (JTG) district as part of the NCOP provincial week on Wednesday, 18 September 2024.
The purpose of the visit was to inspect several incomplete, delayed and/or abandoned infrastructure projects within the region.
Identified was the incomplete and delayed Kalahari Intermediate School in Seodin, the Bankhara Bodulong Primary School in Bakhara as well as the abandoned Dithakong Combined school in Dithakong; including the MR938 road between Hotazel and Kathu.
Accounting for these projects is the MEC of Public Works Fufe Makatong, together with relevant Head of Departments (HODs). Speaking on the incomplete Kalahari Intermediate School, MEC Makatong said that there were several issues that delayed the building of the school.
These challenges relate to the environmental and financial issues.
"THE DELAY IS NOT ONLY AROUND THE 40% OF THE TIME THAT WAS CAUSED BY THESE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES. OVER AND ABOVE THAT WE EXPERIENCED DELAYS WITH REGARDS TO PAYMENTS", SHE SAID.
Makatong added that an additional 180 days for the completion of the school is needed.
"After the contractor has worked out their project plan, they anticipated a process that might require them an additional 180 days, but that approval has not yet been granted," she said.
Kalahari intermediate school was supposed to be completed by September this year, however, the project is currently at 20% completion.
Makatong said that the school will be completed and will start to operate in January 2026. Similarly, the Bankhara Bodulong Primary School was supposed to be completed this year.
However, like Kalahari intermediate, there were challenges relating to finances that hindered the progress of this project which caused the site to close.
Makatong mentioned, the school will, however, be opened for the 2026 academic year, with learners from grade R to grade 7. Another project identified was the MR938 road which dates to the 5th administration; however, it is still incomplete.
According to MEC Makatong, in the beginning of the project, there was "serious deterioration" of the road due to the trucks passing through. "The impatience of the road users contributed a lot because even when the road was at a point of not being usable, they would just use it," she said.
Makatong announced that the project will continue with a new contractor at the beginning of the following year - 2025. Dithakong combined school is the only abandoned project identified in the district.
The project started in 2015 and was to be completed in 2022. To date, the project is at a standstill. The MEC alleged that the contractor was incompetent, which lead to the termination of the contract.
"Currently, there is no budget to continue with the project," Makatong indicated. At the end of the session, Mr Thabisho Cogang from COCHSTA gave a briefing on the blocked 65 housing project in Wrenchville, Kuruman.
According to the briefing, initially about 240 houses were to be built in the 2017/2018 financial year. Out of the 240 units, only 169 houses were built and handed over to beneficiaries between the year(s) 2021 and 2022.
It was during the project that a sink hole was identified, which resulted in the scope of the project being reduced to 238 housing units; leaving a total of 69 houses incomplete.
Mr Cogang asserted that the project will continue with a new contractor with the current budget of R3 871 820.00.
