The Department of Roads and Transport on Sunday announced that it had terminated the contract it had with Utho Ngathi, a company that was awarded the tender to beautify the R24 Albertina Sisulu Highway Corridor due to non-performance.
The termination of the contract with Utho Ngathi does not mean the end of the project, as some of the media reports suggest. The contract was terminated because government was concerned delays in the implementation would have led to phase one of the project not being completed before the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The Department of Roads and Transport will complete the beautification project using internal government capacity and supported by Johannesburg City Parks. Work has already commenced on the corridor and the department is confident that the first phase of the project will be complete by the end of May 2010 ahead of the start of the World Cup. Progress so far includes grass cutting, the planting of 600 trees and preparations for planting one thousand more trees.
The Department of Roads and Transport will in the next two weeks be inviting the media to the site to inspect the project.
Enquiries:
Thabo Masebe
Cell: 082 410 8087
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
3 May 2010
