Egodini contract to be scrapped Zim women nabbed with R1m explosives in SA
BULAWAYO City Council will next month be forced to cancel the multi-million dollar Egodini Bus Terminus rehabilitation tender as it is highly unlikely that the contractor, Terracotta Trading Company would have completed the first phase as agreed, Sunday News can reveal.
South African company Terracota was awarded the tender for the project, touted as a game changer in the city, but has failed to develop the area within the set deadlines.
The company was supposed to complete the first phase in November last year but failed and requested that the deadline be moved to the end of next month.
However, with a few weeks before end of the second deadline, authorities in Bulawayo have indicated that they will be left with no option but to terminate the contract and restart the process of getting another contractor.
The contractors started work in March 2018. Upon completion, the mall will have 50 shops, a bus terminus, commuter omnibus bays and modern informal trader bays with storage counters as well as taxi association offices.
“The first phase of the Egodini Project was meant to have been completed by November 2019 of which we all know that the contractor missed that deadline. They then requested that the deadline be extended until the end of the first quarter of 2020 and with what is on the ground, I do not see them meeting that deadline.
“As it stands we have a lot of pressure from our stakeholders regarding that very project, we are also under pressure from a town planning perspective in terms of our vendors and commuter omnibuses, therefore we will be forced to exercise our powers of terminating the contract if need be, of which we will be guided by the terms and conditions of the contract,” said Bulawayo Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube.
The project has experienced a number of false starts since Terracotta won the tender in September 2012. It was expected to gobble close to $60 million, with the company also awarded with a 99-year lease to the terminus. Mr Dube said when the local authority sets parameters for projects, there is a clear provision on the necessary steps that could be taken whenever a company fails to meet contractual obligations. Since the closure of Egodini, Bulawayo has experienced chaos in vending and commuter omnibus operations. Vendors who used to operate from Egodini have set base in the Central Business District blocking pavements and entrances to business premises.
Most of them have also refused to be relocated to new bases outside the Central Business District, arguing that business was low in the periphery of the city centre. Commuter omnibuses which used to pick up passengers at the terminus are now picking and dropping them off in the city centre.
The Egodini Project is not the only project which has fallen behind time in the city. Mr Dube said the local authority was also sweating over the US$150 million solid waste to energy project by Pragma Leaf Consulting Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd.
The project was initiated through the support of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) in 2012.
In May last year, the project developers said they were in the process of completing the front-end engineering design (FEED) study that will include acquisition of all required land and licensing, a process which was anticipated to be complete by the end of last year with construction commencing at the beginning of this year, and production of bio-fuels expected to follow thereafter.
Mr Dube also revealed that the local authority was fast losing patience with the investor as they were already in breach of the contract signed with the local authority.
“Same as Terracotta, there is nothing happening on the ground with Pragma Leaf, they just give us updates, claiming that they are still mobilising resources. As a local authority we are now becoming impatient as when you look at the contract and set timelines, Pragma Leaf is already in breach. We will soon be forced to sit down and review all these contracts so that we derive a way forward because it is the local authority that is found to be on the losing end,” he said.
According to Pragma Leaf, up to US$150 million was expected to be channelled into the project while more than 300 jobs were to be created at the plant and about 2 000 jobs downstream. In addition, a number of housing projects that were awarded to private companies have stalled in the city, drawing ire from beneficiaries.
Some beneficiaries had paid in full for their residential stands. Affected areas include Mqabuko Heights, Cowdray Park Hlalani Kuhle Housing project, Pelandaba West and Beuna Vista.
SOUTH African authorities have intensified measures to curb the illegal movement of goods across the Limpopo River and last week arrested two Zimbabwean women with explosives worth R1,2 million and also recovered smuggled cigarettes worth R800 000.
The arrests were made by the neighbouring country’s serious organised crime unit, the Hawks between Tuesday and Thursday in Thohoyandou and Makhado towns. Hawks spokesperson for Limpopo, Captain Matimba Maluleke said they arrested two women last Tuesday who were travelling from Thohoyandou to Gauteng with an assortment of explosives.
“The two women were arrested following a tip-off as they were about to board a bus to Thohoyandou.
“They have since appeared at the local magistrate court where their case was postponed to 9 March and they were remanded in custody pending further investigations,” said Capt Maluleke.
He said on Thursday they made another breakthrough after intercepting cigarettes which were being transported from Zimbabwe to
South Africa in a Nissan NP300. Capt Maluleke said the arrest was made in Makhado Town.
“We gathered information about a vehicle that was reportedly transporting illicit cigarettes from
Zimbabwe into South Africa. The vehicle was spotted driving along the N1 highway and an attempt by the police to stop it was made but it sped off. The suspects reportedly jumped off the vehicle and evaded arrest, abandoning the vehicle in the process,” he said.
He said they later found the abandoned vehicle, a Nissan NP300 that was reportedly stolen in Honeydew, Gauteng loaded with illicit cigarettes.
Capt Maluleke said the car was loaded with boxes of Remington Gold cigarettes with an estimated street value of over R800 000 and were seized.
“The Hawks are still hunting down the suspects and appeal to anyone with information that can lead to their arrest to contact the nearest police station,” he said.
It is understood that almost 30 percent of the cigarettes on the South African market are from Zimbabwe.
Statistics from the South African Revenue Services (SARS) show that a total 82 689 043kg of tobacco were imported from Zimbabwe between January 2010 and March 2015.
These include imports of Cigars, Cheroots, Cigarillos and Cigarettes, of Tobacco or of Tobacco Substitutes. Duty charged by South African authorities ranges from R6,21 per 10 cigarettes to R278,82/kg, depending on the type of cigarettes.