Still no certainty on opening date for Mendi centre
Municipal officials are not certain when the Mendi Multipurpose Centre in New Brighton will open.
This is despite earlier reports that the centre would open in April 2018.
The centre has been 20 years in the making but has been hit with delay after delay.
Sports, recreation, arts & culture boss Noxolo Nqwazi said it had not yet been handed over to the municipality.
“There’s a practical completion certificate that needs to be handed over to us and we’d given contractors a snag list which has since been dealt with and now we are waiting for the occupational certificate, but before we can get it, building inspectors need to assess the building,” Nqwazi said.
There were still contractors on site and the multipurpose centre would open as soon as all the boxes had been ticked.
“We can’t bring people into an environment where there are contractors on site because it poses a risk which might lead to litigation,” Nqwazi said.
So far the municipality has spent about R25m on the building which includes a performance hall, office space, restaurant and reception area.
Municipal spokesperson Kupido Baron said an additional R3.6m had been spent on fencing, parking, roadworks, demolitions, and network installation which was budgeted for in the 2017/2018 budget.
“Budgetary provision was necessary to ensure that we furnished and equipped the building, in addition to developing [and also to] obtain approval regarding the operations at the centre from the necessary structures.
“However, we also would like to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are consulted adequately before opening the centre,” Baron said.
Even though the centre is not operational yet, the municipality spends about R15,000 a month on small repairs.
Baron said vandalism was also a concern as the building could become a target.
“We specifically put fencing around the building as well as security personnel to deter vandalism.
“We would like to request [that] residents take pride in the facility as former Eastern Cape premier Raymond Mhlaba, a veteran of the struggle, wanted to see this facility become a source of pride for the local community,” Baron said.
In 2015, the construction contract was taken away from a Johannesburg company and given to ProKhaya Construction after the previous contractors failed to provide a timeframe to transform the historic corner bottle store.
Baron said the operators of the centre must still be decided on by council.
“It will be decided once we put an item to council,” he said.