Just for clarity the original post is courtesy of the Protect Chapmans Peak Movement Premier Helen Zille’s provincial government approved the new tolls at Chapmans Peak even while the MEC for public transport in the Western Cape has admitted on Radio that; - he did not believe there was a tender process for the project; - an architect and an engineer had looked at the costs, meaning - no independent assessment had been done by quantity surveyors; - the concessionaire (Entilini) for which the toll plaza was built had Murray & Roberts as a shareholder; - the offices in the toll plaza were very basic and simple; - the construction company responsible for the building of the toll plaza was Haw & Inglis, and Murray & Roberts was not a shareholder of Haw & Inglis; - there was 400 square metres of offices and 170 square metres of storerooms at the plaza. (this was approved by current government) What is known is that in the R53m approved by the DA for the toll plaza, the current public works MEC approved R13m for the office and storeroom component. Storeroom building costs are about R3,500 a square metre and acceptable office space can be built for R7,000 a square metre. On this basis, the office and storeroom component could have been built for R3.4m and even if one allows a further 50% overrun, the costs should only be about R5.1m — appreciably less than the R13m approved. In the interests of transparency and good governance, the following questions need to be asked and answered: • Why was there no tender process when the spending of public funds is involved? • Who decided on the scope of works — was it Entilini, the concessionaire, or was it the provincial government? • If it was the concessionaire that decided on the size and finishes of the building, why was there no involvement by the province? • Why were no independent quantity surveyors appointed? • Was there an independent study done to ascertain what the requirements were for a toll plaza in terms of building size, given the staff complement to run the toll plaza? • How can 400 square metres of offices be justified for 20 staff operating over a 24-hour cycle with a maximum of perhaps 12 employees on site at any one time? • If the “offices are basic and simple”, how did they cost so much — R23,000 a square metre (R13m for 570 square metres) for the offices and storeroom combined? • Who are the shareholders of Haw & Inglis, the company responsible for the construction of the toll plaza? • As the toll plaza is such a contentious issue and if no tender took place, why does the MEC not know who the shareholders are in the construction company, given the sensitive nature of public funds? • How can the DA MEC for public works claim that “every cent has been accounted for” and that “no overcharging has taken place”, given what appears to be a lack of oversight on this project? The provincial government in the Western Cape appears to have been most remiss and potentially negligent in not interrogating the many aspects of the toll plaza construction and its projected costs, which points to a virtual mugging of taxpayers. In the interests of due process, transparency and good governance, there should be a full investigation to establish if malfeasance exists — and in the event of evidence revealing it, the “unwinding” of the project where applicable would be part of this due process. South Africa’s economically downtrodden miss out on what should be improved service delivery financed by tax revenues. by Simon Mantell read more>> bdlive.co.za/... Is the Chapman’s Peak toll plaza the DA’s own Nkandla? bdlive.co.za Chapman’s Peak presents the perfect opportunity for the DA to demonstrate why it...See More
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:18:32 +0000
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