‘We are sorry’: Joburg Mayor apologises to residents as Bree Street repairs deadline extended to mid-2025
More than a year after the deadly Joburg CBD gas explosion which caused massive road infrastructure damage along Bree Street (now renamed Lillian Ngoyi Street) a popular street and major transport artery for Joburg residents remains inaccessible and the reopening of the busy road is nowhere in sight.
IOL reported in August 2023 that City of Johannesburg confirmed that methane gas was caused the massive explosion. At the time, Joburg City Manager, Floyd Brink, said methane gas was detected, which caused a series of events that ultimately caused the explosion.
The massive explosion killed one person, injured several others, caused extensive infrastructure damage and disrupted services around the Joburg CBD area.
Joburg mayor said the services of the first contractor has recently been terminated and the second company which was bidding for the repair work has now been appointed.
Under the first contractor, the repairs were envisaged to be finished by the end of this year but with the new contractor appointed, the repairs are now envisaged to be under way even in mid 2025.
“The City had done what needed to be done but those that were appointed to do the job would have then failed, which then forced the City of Johannesburg to undergo a process to appoint a new company,” Joburg Mayor, Dada Morero, said speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
“Had that company not failed the residents of Johannesburg, I do not think we would be where we are now.”
He said City of Joburg, which manages the companies appointed to do the repair work, picked that the first company would not be able to deliver, and cancelled the contract.
“They failed to meet certain milestones in the project, which then resulted in the city taking that decision. As I said, we do apologise to our residents, we apologise to the people in the inner city in particular for the delays and of course businesses and property owners in the inner city,” Morero said.
“We will do our level best to push to ensure that the contractor in place will move with much needed speed so that we can conclude the project by June 2025,” he said.
“I think we will push it to June 2025 and not push it to 2026. It will require us to do certain things with the company in place so that by June 2025, or August we are able to complete the project.”
The Star reported last month that the Lilian Ngoyi Street rehabilitation project, had hit another snag after the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) fired the first contractor meant to restore the road to normality.
Riddled with failure to meet several contractual obligations including having been reportedly awarded the nearly R200 million tender despite the contractor having been alleged to have defrauded City Power of R94 million, Step Up Engineering’s contract was terminated in August.
Democratic Alliance in Johannesburg has called on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to look into what seems to be the latest scandal to rock the City of Gold.
DA’s member of provincial legislature, Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku accused the newly elected mayor, who is from the ANC, of dragging his feet on the matter despite having been recently elected after Kabelo Gwamanda resigned.
IOL