GEORGE NEWS - The development of the regional waste management facility for the Garden Route in Mossel Bay has been further delayed.
In a discussion of the matter during a special council meeting of the Garden Route District Council on Thursday 26 June, it transpired that the contract with the main contractor, Tefla Group, had been cancelled due to slow progress and apparent failure to deliver.
According to a report that was tabled, efforts are under way to call up a performance guarantee of R31.998m from Maadima, the financial institution that had provided the guarantee to the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) on behalf of Tefla Group. The report states that Maadima has not replied to any correspondence from the GRDM to date.
Responding to the concerns raised by some of the councillors regarding monies paid to the contractor, who had taken over the site in June 2023, Mayor Andrew Stroebel explained that the payments made to Tefla Group had been for work completed, and were signed off by the consulting engineers, Zutari.
"There was no wasteful expenditure." He said the process of terminating the contract took several months.
A full supply chain process must now be followed to appoint a new contractor, which is also a lengthy process. This will impact the cost to finish the project because of rising building costs.
"We are trying to fix this. It is frustrating for me and the councillors, because we all want to get the site up and running as soon as possible, but legislation and legal stuff are holding us back."
The municipality paid Tefla R53m for the work completed and signed off by Zutari, as well as for materials on-site that will be used by a newly appointed contractor.
The contract with Tefla Group for completing phase 1 of the project has been cancelled. Photo: Garden Route District Municipality
GRDM's legal services has appointed Raubenheimers Attorneys on 8 May to investigate the circumstances that led to the cancellation of the contract.
The municipalities that will be making use of the regional waste facility - George, Bitou, Knysna and Mossel Bay - are currently using the PetroSA landfill. GRDM is having to negotiate with PetroSA and licensing authorities to continue using this landfill until the facility is up and running. It has also to extend its agreement with Zutari, which lapsed in June.
According to the report, the remainder of the works to conclude phase 1 amounts to a total of R85m in value.
The initial estimated completion date for the first phase of the facility was February 2024, and for the whole project, March 2025. New target dates are as yet uncertain.
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
