The Democratic Alliance (DA) is shocked to discover that there is nothing to show for the R24 199 592,22 spent so far in the construction of the Palm Springs Multi-purpose Centre in the Emfuleni Local Municipality.
There is no construction that has been done, the site is just an empty piece of ground, yet millions have been spent on this project.
See photos here, here, here and here.
According to the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Lebogang Maile two service providers were appointed; Gibb Consulting was appointed on 22 October 2015 and Sedtrade was appointed on 3 March 2017.
MEC Maile was responding to my written questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
The following monies have been paid so far to these service providers; Gibb Consulting was paid R10 925 381,57 and Sedtrade was paid R13 274 210,65, yet there is nothing to show for the work done. The initial budget for this project was R44 129 510,28 and the project was expected to be completed on 15 June 2018.
The fact that more than half of the budget has been spent and construction has not yet started indicates that the project runs the risk of running over budget as a result of these unnecessary delays.
It has now become a norm for the ANC-led Gauteng government to start projects that benefit the community and then fail to complete them.
I will table follow-up questions to MEC Maile to determine what exactly these service providers were paid for and what work have they done, when will this project be completed and how much money is needed to complete this project.
The DA will closely monitor the progress on construction of the multi-purpose centre to ensure that this project is completed on time and within the budget allocation for this project.