The DA calls on Limpopo Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure MEC, Ernest Rachoene, to ensure poor performing contractors appointed by Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL) face consequences or are blacklisted for poor performance.
In a response to written questions submitted by the DA, RAL indicated that since the establishment of the panel of preferred contractors in the 2020/21 financial year, a total of 601 contractors and consultants have been appointed. Of these, 182 did not comply with agreed completion dates of their contracts and failed to complete the projects within the agreed timelines, despite this only one contractor was terminated due to poor performance and none have been blacklisted. View the response here.
RAL established a panel of contractors and consultants, where a small pool of prequalified contractors were approved to take on road construction projects. The tenuous justification for this panel was to streamline the procurement process and ensure use of the entire budget allocation without a need to advertise bids for every road project.
The response also indicates that the Auditor-General also had a finding around the fairness principle in the appointment of contractors consecutively to more than one project while others on the panel were not allocated projects.
The DA has previously indicated that the panel is not in accordance with the Supply Chain Management legislation and during one year, RAL incurred R1,6 billion in irregular expenditure due to appointing contractors through this panel that pre-qualified contractors. There is seemingly no clear criteria for appointment of service providers from the panel and according to the Auditor-General, previously some of the construction contracts were awarded to contractors that did not qualify for the contract in accordance with section 18(1) of the CIDB Act and Construction Industry Development Board Regulations 17 and/or 25(7A).
MEC Rachoene must ensure that these contractors are held accountable and that there are consequences when they perform poorly to ensure that road projects in the province are of good quality, completed on time and within budget.
The DA is committed to ensuring that RAL improves its performance and that the people of Limpopo have adequate road infrastructure.