The Musina Local Municipality has issued a public tender to appoint a panel of consultants to help complete the stalled Rhino Ridge Park Development Project. The move follows significant delays caused by the termination of the project’s consulting engineer.

The Rhino Ridge project is a municipal initiative aimed at developing a new residential township for middle-income earners. The development will offer fully serviced, vacant stands for purchase.

The township was approved in 2017, with initial work on site servicing starting shortly thereafter. In the 2022/23 financial year, the project received further support from the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), which funded and oversaw the installation of water and sanitation infrastructure.

In August 2023, the project entered its next phase, focusing on electricity supply and the connection of 900 stands. The original project budget of R19 million was later revised to R35.8 million, with reported expenditure to date standing at R21.8 million.

Since then, however, the project has ground to a halt. The Musina branch of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) has called on the municipality to terminate the contractor’s appointment, citing concerns over the company’s failure to meet its contractual obligations.

But it appears the contractor may not be to blame for the delay. The contractor, Mbuyadzi Trade and Projects (Pty) Ltd, in partnership with RM Mashaba Projects (Pty) Ltd, had already signed a cession agreement with the municipality for the procurement of materials. Most of the required materials – including transformers, cables, metering kiosks, auto-reclosers and CT/VT units – have already been delivered to the site.

However, the departure of the consulting engineer affected progress on the development severely.

According to the municipality, the consulting engineer’s contract was terminated due to poor performance. It is unclear how much the consultant was paid for the work as the municipality has not responded to specific questions.

The municipality said it hoped the appointment of a new panel of consultants would provide the necessary technical expertise to bring the project to completion. The development is expected to be finalised by September 2025.