Millions of rand in additional funding is required to pay for the renovation work aimed at restoring the Durban City Hall to its former pristine condition.
An additional R65 million is required for the work that is already under way to restore this protected building.
A report tabled before the executive committee meeting of the eThekwini Municipality on Tuesday said additional funds totalling R65.7m were required.
The request for more funding raised concerns among some of the City’s councillors who demanded to see the work that had already been done to justify the demand for more funding.
The report said the budget that had been allocated for this work in the current financial year had been inadequate for additional renovations that were unearthed after the commencement of the project, and an investigative inspection had been concluded.
The breakdown of the cost showed that a lot more than the R65m could be required.
“The Mercury” reported last year that a council meeting had approved R33.7m for some of the work that needs to be done on the building, considered to be the seat of local government in the City. Councillors said this amount was a drop in the ocean and the real cost of renovations could be between R90m and R322m.
At the time, it was reported that the R33.7m would go towards the funding of priorities, including repairing storm damage in the main auditorium, roof repairs in the City Hall administration and cultural block, the upgrading of the air conditioning and ventilation system, fixing domestic pipes, and fire hydrant upgrades.
The report tabled on Tuesday details the nature of the work that needs to be undertaken. For instance, the report gives details of each project value, R23m will be required for the upgrade of the aircon system. An amount of R16.4m is required this financial year and R1.2m in the next financial year. Almost R3.6m will be required for domestic pipes and fire hydrants.
It said close to R21m was needed in the next three financial years for a substation upgrade, that close to R17m was required for storm damage repairs of phase 1 in the auditorium, and R10m over the next two years for City Hall renovations.
R2m was required in the next financial year to fix the lift.
“Authority is sought for the approval of additional funding in the amount of R65.7m to cater for the planned approach of the City Hall restoration masterplan as well as to provide an update on renovations currently under way and highlight additional budget requirements within the overall masterplan.
“The City Hall has undergone numerous ad-hoc upgrades and renovations over its 113-year lifespan to maintain its status and to ensure the facility remains a relevant, modern and functional and secure space aligned to user’s expectations,” said the report.
It said with the structure having been listed with the KwaZulu-Natal Amafa and Research Institute as a heritage building and provincial monument, approval from the institute was also required.
The report added that the interventions required included a range of work packages identified and grouped according to the construction trades and priorities as immediate, short term and medium term time frames linked to the current condition and maintenance cycle.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa demanded that councillors be provided with proof of the extent of the work that had been done in the building.
“We keep being provided with these reports requesting more money, yet we are not able to use the City Hall and we are spending money to host meetings at some other venues. At some point we need to see the work that has been done,” he said.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said they had always raised concerns about spending money for using other venues, so the renovation of the City Hall was important to the party.
“We need to monitor the work very closely because every now and then we get requests for funding the renovations which suggest something might not be happening accordingly with that work,” said Nkosi.
He said the IFP supported the work, but would monitor the progress to ensure that taxpayers’ money was not wasted.
ANC councillor Nkosenhle Madlala said a tour of the building would be appropriate. “To showcase what has been done so we can show councillors if a stone has been removed there, this is where it had been removed.”
The Mercury