Who is to blame for "pothole" road?

Following last week’s article, it was stated this week that the Madombidzha road has by far not yet been approved by the consulting engineers.

The consultants have refused so far to hand over a certificate of completion to the contractor for the rehabilitation of Road D959 between Makhado (Louis Trichardt) and Madombidzha.

“The contractors’ surety retention money and final certificate have been withheld so that the contractor would go back on site and repair the problems,” said a spokesperson for Africon Engineering.

Problems are aplenty on the 5 km road section located on the south-western outskirts of town, starting at the intersection between Kort and Malherbe Streets. The rehabilitation was indicated as being a five-month project, but heavy rainfall prolonged the project right at the onset. Businesses lodged numerous complaints when they suffered huge financial losses due to the road’s construction.

When the project neared completion, the consulting engineers, noticed problems with the base layer of the road, the layer just beneath the seal of the road. Throughout the rehabilitation project, the engineers requested laboratory tests. The sub-contractor, Thiko Civils, had a full-time independent material laboratory on site.

“We did receive test results from the lab on an ongoing basis (mainly compaction results) and all the results passed the test. The lab did not, however, inform us of layer thickness deviation in the base course,” said the acting office manager of Africon in Louis Trichardt, Mr Christo Schlesinger.

“We requested the contractor to test the base and compaction results before continuing with double sealing. The contractor repaired the base and tests were done by an independent lab. The contractor continued the work, assuring Africon that the layer works were correct and the tests would be submitted to our office.” He said that the test results were not received.

Thereafter, Africon appointed a laboratory to conduct independent base and sub-base tests. In August, further tests were done on the lower layers, requested by Africon. These tests were done by the non-destructive pavement evaluation method with expensive equipment, a method by which no holes needed to be drilled. The final results of the tests will be submitted to the client, Road Agency Lim-popo (RAL), on August 26.

In the meantime, the sub-contractor also had tests done on the road whereby holes were drilled in the road.

“That might be an explanation for most of the 19 potholes on the road that the public referred to,” Mr Schlesinger said.

Africon said that their contract was with the contractor, IPOPO Business Services, who is responsible for the project, since RAL awarded the tender to them. The project is valued at R6,1 million, according to Mr Bohani Shibambu, CEO of RAL.

During the tender evaluation process, Africon proposed that the tender submitted by Ipopo Business Services should not be considered for the award of the tender. Their reasons included the competence of the tenderer. Because the company had only executed a small-sized project to the contract value of R600 000, there was a degree of uncertainty with regard to the tenderer’s ability to complete a contract of this magnitude successfully. The tenderer gave references for previous involvement in projects. Problems experienced by these references included the complaint that IPOPO did not do any physical work on the contract and failure to attend to most of the construction activities that fell under their contract but which were subcontracted to other firms.

RAL confirmed that the contract was awarded to IPOPO although the consulting engineers did not recommend them. Mr Shibambu said that the final decision on a project of over R5 million rested with the RAL Board. The tender was awarded on the point system where HDI (Historically Disadvantage Index) points counted some 10 out of 100 points. Mr Shibambu said that the recommendation of the consultant was wrong.

“We have to follow the law with the evaluation. The one with the highest points get the job,” Mr Shibambu said.

IPOPO, who was awarded the tender, sub-contracted 100% of the tender. According to the General Conditions of Contract for Road and Bridge Works for State Road Authorities, Clause 8(1), the contractor shall not subcontract the whole of the contract. When asked why IPOPO was allowed to sub-contract the whole of the contract, Mr Shibambu replied, “Strictly speaking we should not allow 100% sub-contracting of a project, but we haven’t stopped them.”

Mr Shibambu said that the sole owner of Ipopo is the 26-year-old Ms WM Choshi and the manager is Mr Samson Baloyi from Elim.

News - Date: 27 August 2004

Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

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