As the row over the controversial and costly N2 Gateway project flares again on Wednesday with renewed debate in the city and in parliament, the spotlight falls on a top-level hazard warning by lawyers more than a year ago.
It has emerged that in a confidential memorandum to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, provincial Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi and former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, Cape Town law firm Cheadle, Thompson & Haysom highlighted concerns about the appointment of Johannesburg firm Cyberia Technologies - an IT company - as project managers for the N2 Gateway scheme.
The lawyers’ investigation, in March 2005, was apparently commissioned by the political threesome, known as “M3″.
It is understood that the report found that while the tender adjudicators in the city rated Cyberia the least favourite of six rivals for the job, the council’s Goods and Services Property Advisory Board placed it first.
| They lost millions as a result of the bungled handling of the development |
The contract, which was eventually increased to more than R12m from R5m, was approved in a closed tender process.
More than R4m was injected into the project a month before Cyberia’s contract was terminated in January this year.
The city law firm’s memorandum concluded that while the appointment process may have been flawed, there was “no conclusive evidence of direct political interference in the process” or of “improper behaviour by the project managers”.
The memorandum does advise that “concerns about the competencies of the project managers” be dealt with.
It also highlights “possible problems in the procurement process” and the “lack of integration” between the three spheres of government involved.
It is apparent from the multimillion-rand cost overruns, and claims by developers who say they lost millions as a result of the bungled handling of the development that last year’s warnings were not heeded or acted on.
The row over the project escalated last week when Sisulu cut the city out of the project in the wake of Mayco’s pointed questioning of officials about who approved funding or issued instructions on the project.
Mayco decided it could not foot the bill for overruns or contractors’ claims until these questions were answered.
At the last Mayco meeting, councillors were told that some of the problems were “to a degree a result of poor project management and a lack of capacity in oversight on what those managers were doing at that time”.
The N2 Gateway controversy is a hot topic again today with a fresh round of debate in Mayco and also in the National Council of Provinces.
Several other housing matters account for a significant portion of Mayco’s 1 008-page agenda for its last meeting on Wednesday before the holiday recess starts.
Councillors are being asked to approve a key shift from delivering “full package” (a completed house) to “incremental” (site and service, or informal settlement upgrades) solutions, and also to find an extra R120m to push up the total delivery for the year from 8 000 to 20 000 “housing opportunities”.
A report notes “the present housing delivery approach is not denting the housing backlog significantly” and that “the demand of housing is more than the available resources” and needs accelerated delivery.
Mayco is being asked to enter into urgent discussions with the SA National Defence Force over the city’s plan to use Wingfield land to build about 4 200 houses. - Cape Argus
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