The third deadline for the rehabilitation of just 1.8km of Joburg’s Lilian Ngoyi Street has come and gone, with 80% of the cash already spent. The new deadline for completion of phase two is 31 October.
The City of Johannesburg has paid R185-million to two contractors to rebuild and redevelop just 1.8km of Lilian Ngoyi Street – expenditure that, on a broad distance basis, already puts the unfinished inner-city project into the cost territory of some major national road projects.
New figures supplied to Daily Maverick by the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) show that R166-million has now been paid to replacement contractor Korone Engineering, in addition to R19-million paid to Step Up Engineering before the agency terminated its contract in August 2024 over performance problems.
The total allocated budget is R230-million, or about R128-million per kilometre if simply divided across the 1.8km corridor. By comparison, the 139km Moloto Road improvement programme being undertaking by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) averages about R83-million per kilometre and Sanral’s planned 415km Ermelo-Richards Bay programme averages about R116-million per kilometre.
The comparison is indicative rather than like-for-like. Lilian Ngoyi Street involves extensive underground infrastructure, including sewer, water and stormwater services, as well as road reconstruction, pavements, electricity and other works that cannot be directly compared with national road projects.
Julius Kleynhans, executive manager: support services at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), said the repeated deadline shifts, money already spent and impact on traders nevertheless raised legitimate accountability questions.
He cautioned against using national cost-per-kilometre comparisons to conclude that Lilian Ngoyi Street was exceptionally expensive.
“These projects are not directly comparable and the published figures may not include the same cost components,” Kleynhans said.
The cost is only one part of the project’s troubled history. JRA’s own figures put physical progress at 70% in March and 72% in August – an apparent increase of just two percentage points in five months if the two measurements were calculated on the same basis.
Days before the City’s end-August completion target fell away, the JRA’s head of department for infrastructure development, Khayalethu Gqibitole, told Daily Maverick that it was “incorrect to suggest that there are delays”.
The JRA subsequently acknowledged that “recent operational cash flow constraints” had affected construction and moved the earliest anticipated completion date to 31 October.
The R230-million is not simply the cost of rebuilding the roughly 450 metres of Lilian Ngoyi Street that were severely damaged by the underground explosion on 19 July 2023.
The City deliberately expanded the reconstruction into a broader rehabilitation of the 1.8km corridor.
The blast section required complex work involving underground tunnels, relocation of municipal services, sewer, water and stormwater infrastructure, road reconstruction, lighting and traffic signals.
The broader programme includes further underground infrastructure, roads, pavements, lighting, traffic signals and street furniture.
Mayor Dada Morero has defended the decision to expand the scope of the work.
“We took a view to refurbish the entire Lilian Ngoyi so that we achieve what we call the complete street programme to ensure that we can extend the pavements, bring in trees and street furniture so that the entire street is complete,” Morero said.
“We’ve done a whole new programme. Instead of addressing where the explosion happened, we are addressing the whole street.”
Kleynhans said the additional infrastructure was precisely why caution was needed when comparing the project with national roads. Before making a firm call on whether the cost or construction period was technically unreasonable, he recommended assessment by a civil engineer, quantity surveyor or transport infrastructure specialist.
Step Up Engineering was appointed as the original contractor for R179-million. Its contract was terminated in August 2024 after the JRA raised concerns over its performance.
The agency says R19-million was paid to Step Up for work undertaken before termination.
Korone Engineering was subsequently appointed to complete phases one and two under a R192-million contract. The JRA has now told Daily Maverick that R166-million has been paid to Korone to date.
Total construction expenditure across the two contractors is therefore R185-million.
That is equivalent to about 80% of the R230-million allocated project budget, while the JRA reports that physical progress is at 72%. The figures are not necessarily directly comparable, as expenditure and physical construction progress do not have to advance at the same rate.
Professional fees are also separate from the construction payments. The JRA said consultants were appointed under a separate professional services contract and their fees were not included in the contractor appointment value.
The JRA confirmed that the R230-million allocation includes Korone’s R192-million contract and said the contract provided for an allowable variation of up to 20%. It has previously maintained there have been no variation orders.
Kleynhans said the JRA should reconcile the total budget, contractor payments, professional fees, VAT, variation allowance and its calculation of physical progress.
The JRA’s original timetable provides a benchmark for how long the work was expected to take.
In early 2024, it envisaged two work packages being undertaken over approximately 24 months. The failure of the first contractor significantly disrupted that timetable.
After the Step Up contract was terminated, the JRA said completion of the remaining phase one work would be 30 June 2025 and phase two on 30 June 2026. By February 2025, those dates had moved to August 2025 for phase one and August 2026 for phase two.
Morero personally backed that deadline.
“We are completing the repairs by the end of August, and we are on track. On the first of September, I will be there to reopen the road,” he said in July 2025.
Morero attended an official ceremony on 1 September 2025. The reconstructed section eventually opened to motorists on 12 September.
The JRA maintains that the 31 August construction deadline was met and that the remaining work consisted of snags.
“The 31 August 2025 completion date was not missed and the opening ceremony where various media houses were invited was held on the 1st September 2025,” Gqibitole said.
“The road was then open to traffic on the 12 September 2025 after completion of snags.”
The focus then shifted to completing phase two by August this year.
At a stakeholder meeting on 25 March, JRA project manager Jeff Maluleke said phase two was 70% complete.
The City said the project remained “on track for completion by August 2026”, but its account of the same meeting also acknowledged an 18% delay caused by heavy rainfall and difficulties removing existing services.
A contractor catch-up plan was implemented.
Despite this, the JRA continued to stand by the August deadline.
Shortly before it expired, Gqibitole told Daily Maverick: “The due project completion date is end August 2026 as previously communicated publicly, it is incorrect to suggest that there are delays.”
The latest JRA update puts progress at 72%.
If the March and August percentages were calculated using the same methodology, the JRA’s published figures would mean reported overall progress advanced by only two percentage points in five months.
The JRA has not publicly explained whether the two percentages are directly comparable.
Its latest breakdown indicates substantial work remains: road and pavement paving was reported at 35%, road and pavement layers at 48%, electrical lighting and traffic signals at 50% and new stormwater pipes at 68%.
Days before the August deadline, JRA acknowledged “recent operational cash flow constraints” had affected full-scale construction.
It said work had resumed after the problems were resolved and payments to the contractor finalised.
JRA CEO Zweli Nyathi said: “Major works are anticipated to be completed ahead of the October rains and thereafter the construction and installation of bus stops, street furniture and landscaping work will be finalised.”
But the new completion date comes with a qualification.
The JRA says 31 October is the earliest anticipated date and is dependent on the timely payment of service providers.
Kleynhans said Johannesburg’s cash-flow constraints were evident across various service areas, with contractors not being paid and the resulting service breakdowns affecting residents and businesses.
For traders along Lilian Ngoyi Street, the cost is measured differently.
More than three years after the explosion, businesses have operated alongside excavations, construction barriers, dust, broken pavements, restricted access and traffic diversions.
Mohamed Yaseen, who runs a pie shop in the street, said his staff complement had fallen from 10 to four.
“I was forced to lay off five staff – we have so little business these days. People don’t want to walk through this mess – broken pavements, holes, dust and mud. They have to park far away to get to me.”
“I am surviving by the grace of the Almighty. I have arrangements with my loyal suppliers to pay them off. Different contractors come and go. People can’t get to the shops. All the traders in the street are facing the same problem.”
Yaseen questioned why the work had taken so long.
“It is not a complicated job. Why does it take so long to repair one small section of road?”
The traders will receive no financial compensation from the City.
Gqibitole said this was because the July 2023 explosion was not formally declared a disaster by the Gauteng provincial government.
“Since the road explosion was not declared as disaster by the province, the CoJ was not in a position to provide any financial relief or compensation,” he said.
The new target is 31 October — provided its service providers continue to be paid. DM
