Pretoria - The City of Tshwane has set its sight on extending the Centurion taxi rank to accommodate buses, despite budget constrains that impeded the completion of the project.
After waiting for the facility to be completed, minus shelters and bins, the Centurion taxi industry eventually pushed for permission to occupy it in May last year.
The plan was to give the Department of Roads and Transport time to find funding to complete the project.
The taxi rank was initially clouded by controversy when it was discovered that R12 million was spent to build a facility that would be shunned by its intended beneficiaries.
Taxi associations at the time labelled the rank as a “big parking lot” built by people who didn’t know what was needed for it to serve the purpose for which it was intended.
It was perceived to be a classic case of poor consultation by the government; the facility had no seating places for commuters, shelters from sun and rain, or litter bins. This, despite the estimation that it would be used by 12 000 commuters daily.
According to critics, the taxi rank looks like a 10 000m² parking lot, with ablution facilities. Nonetheless, the City completed the sewer and stormwater network.
MMC for Roads and Transport, Dikeledi Selowa, said while budget constraints had been the cause of the delays with shelters and bins, the City was also looking at expanding it to accommodate the buses that currently parked nearby.
“We have started the tender process. We do have a service provider and we are at our design phase in terms of the finalisation of those designs.
“We are going to use the designs for Centurion taxi rank as a benchmark for the shelters we will have across the City of Tshwane. This is very different from the refurbishment of the other ranks that already had existing infrastructure,” said Selowa.
Deputy chairperson of the Centurion Taxi Association, Malekapele Madibeng, said the taxi rank was basically theirs now for permanent use as part of the City’s aim to build a smart, integrated transport hub in Centurion.
“Although we are satisfied with everything else and acknowledge the beautiful work the City is trying to do with this place, we are still waiting for shelters and bins. We have been waiting for some time and don’t understand why it takes so long. But with these government things, there are always a lot of people involved.”
Pretoria News