TSHWANE TO SPEND R1.2 BILLION ON NEW HQ

The Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality has awarded an undisclosed bidder a R1.2 billion contract to build the new municipal headquarters in December this year.

This was revealed by the MEC for Local Government and Housing, Humphrey Mmemezi, in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

This amount of money comes as a shock.

Yes, the building is needed, because the current building, the Munitoria, is still derelict after a fire destroyed the west wing in 1997.

However, the project should have been undertaken a long time ago. The cost of continuing municipal operations under deteriorated circumstances may well have exceeded the cost of a new building.

This new contract raises more questions than answers. We need to know who the undisclosed bidder is, whether there were other bidders and what the basis was for selecting the preferred, as yet unknown, bidder?

In addition how many square metres of floor space will be provided for the probable R1.2bn cost and will it be cost effective? Where is the report that justifies this cost?

I will certainly submit follow up questions as right now the public views these mega-deals with enormous scepticism. Too often these kinds of deals have been shrouded in secrecy and tainted with corruption.

Statement issued by Mike Moriarty, DA Gauteng MPL, September 26 2011

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