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🇿🇦 South Africa /Energy & Infrastructure

R185 million, two contractors and a trail of shifting deadlines on Johannesburg’s Lilian Ngoyi Street

From Daily Maverick · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Johannesburg has paid R185 million to two contractors for the 1.8km Lilian Ngoyi Street project, against a total allocated budget of R230 million.
  • Physical progress rose from 70% in March to 72% in August, while the project’s completion deadlines continued to shift.
  • The Johannesburg Roads Agency blamed recent cash-flow constraints and set 31 October as the earliest anticipated completion date for phase two.

Johannesburg has spent R185 million on rebuilding and redeveloping just 1.8km of Lilian Ngoyi Street, yet the project remains unfinished and its deadlines keep moving. Replacement contractor Korone Engineering has received R166 million, while Step Up Engineering was paid R19 million before the City terminated its contract in August 2024 over performance problems.

The project’s total budget stands at R230 million, or about R128 million per kilometre if divided across the corridor. That figure is higher than indicative averages for two national road programmes: roughly R83 million per kilometre for the 139km Moloto Road improvement programme and R116 million for Sanral’s planned 415km Ermelo-Richards Bay programme.

These projects are not directly comparable and the published figures may not include the same cost components

· Julius KleynhansThe Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse executive cautioned against using national road costs to judge the Johannesburg project.

The comparison is not like-for-like. Lilian Ngoyi Street requires underground sewer, water and stormwater infrastructure, as well as road reconstruction, pavements, electricity and related work. Julius Kleynhans of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse warned that national road comparisons cannot establish that the city project is exceptionally expensive. Still, he said the repeated deadline changes, money already spent and disruption to traders raised legitimate accountability questions.

incorrect to suggest that there are delays

· Khayalethu GqibitoleThe Johannesburg Roads Agency infrastructure executive made the statement shortly before an August completion target expired.

The project’s reported physical progress has also prompted scrutiny. Johannesburg Roads Agency figures put progress at 70% in March and 72% in August, an apparent increase of only two percentage points over five months if the measurements used the same basis. Days before the end-August target expired, infrastructure executive Khayalethu Gqibitole rejected the suggestion that the project was delayed.

The agency later acknowledged that recent operational cash-flow constraints had affected construction and moved the earliest anticipated completion date to 31 October. The R230 million covers more than repairs to the roughly 450 metres severely damaged by the underground explosion of 19 July 2023, which killed one person and damaged dozens of vehicles, mostly taxis. The City expanded the work into a broader street overhaul.

recent operational cash flow constraints

· Johannesburg Roads AgencyThe agency cited these constraints when acknowledging construction impacts and moving the expected completion date.
About this summary

Originally published by Daily Maverick in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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