When the intermodal taxi building structure project, which includes the taxi rank as well as a retail and office block, started construction in June 2011, the residents and taxi operators of Thohoyandou ululated with pride as they welcomed the much needed development on their doorsteps.
Little did they know that a project that reached practical completion in 2013, will take longer to be operational as it had shown cracks and had serious structural issues when it was about to be handed over for opening. A closer structural assessment by an engineer revealed numerous concerns recommending remedial construction work to address the defects. A setback that needed more taxpayer’s money to correct defects.
The initial cost of the Thohoyandou Taxi rank project was over R256 million, and the department incurred a further R25.2 million in remedial construction works carried out on the project.
In 2022 a further amount of R6 million has been budgeted for the completion of the Thohoyandou taxi rank facility. This is despite the project being severely over budget and behind schedule.
The facility has had faced different issues and obstacles that have seen the project delayed and incur additional costs in remedial construction work.
The other major issue that contributed to the delay of the opening of the taxi rank facility according to the Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety is failure to acquire approved building plans and architect drawings required for an occupation certificate. There were also issues in finding a suitable contractor for the remedial construction work, a lack of capacity of the contractor appointed to do the remedial construction as well as the contractor’s non-compliance to health and safety regulations.
This project’s monumental failure sets a good example of what poor project management is all about, a clear demonstration of a lack of a political oversight on the part of government officials when it comes to holding contractors to account for poor quality workmanship, adding another layer of poor service delivery for the people of Venda demonstrating the prevalence and normalcy of incompetence and corruption that go unpunished.
