Cost of incomplete Randgate Clinic skyrockets

The cost of the long overdue completion of the Randgate Clinic has ballooned to R45 million, said the DA..

Johannesburg - The initial cost of the long overdue completion of the half built Randgate Clinic has ballooned to R45 million, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday.

“The total cost of building the much delayed Randgate Clinic in Randfontein has tripled to R45 million, and it is scheduled to be completed in October this year, two years after the original completion date,” Jack Bloom, a DA Gauteng MEC, said in a statement.

Bloom said he found out about the escalating costs from a written reply to a question he had asked Gauteng Infrastructure Development MEC Jacob Mamabolo.

The DA MEC qouted Mamabolo as saying the”delays were due to poor performance and poor quality by the contractor”.

Bloom added: “He says the initial completion date was 11 November 2015, but last year I was told in a written reply by the department that construction started on 3 May 2013 and it was supposed to be completed on 7 October 2014”.

Construction of the clinic was stopped at the halfway stage because the previous contractor failed to do the job despite being paid R10 million. An additional R4.1 million was paid to consultants, said Bloom.

“The value of the contract to Anix Trading and Construction cc is R30.65 million, which means that the total cost will be R44.85 million as R14.2 million has already been spent on this clinic,” said the DA MEC.

Bloom said this was a “massive wastage of money” because of an “appalling choice of contractor” who still got paid a large amount of money.

He said the clinic should only have cost about R15 million. The construction should only have taken 18 months, but it will now take three-and-a-half years at triple the cost.

“This shows a staggering level of incompetence in the Infrastructure Development Department.”

African News Agency