Staff Reporter
The national police department is investigating the awarding of a contract to renovate Park Road police station in Bloemfontein three years ago but work has since ground to a halt.
Free State Police, Roads and Transport MEC Sam Mashinini said this on Wednesday, in response to an inquiry from Democratic Alliance (DA) legislator Leona Kleynhans who wanted to know why no work was being done on site.
Describing it as the “greatest scandal” she had ever witnessed, Kleynhans wanted to know why three different contractors had come and gone since the project was started in 2017.
“We are looking into that matter,” Mashinini said during a virtual sitting of the provincial Legislature during which he presented the supplementary budget vote speech for his department.
“The challenge that was there . . . we had to move from one contractor to the other because of non-compliance. The national minister (of police Bheki Cele) is basically dealing with that,” he added in his brief response.
The DA legislator said when she visited the Park Road police station last November, the place was a mess with several buildings knocked down and the police officers forced to work in a crammed space.
“The entire yard has been dug up, paving has been removed,” she said.
“The buildings, including the dog kennels and 50 holding cells, have been demolished.
“There are a few half-built buildings standing . . . while whole sections of the old buildings are cordoned off for safety reasons.
“This is certainly the biggest scandal I have ever witnessed.
“In November 2017 . . . a contract of R74 million was awarded for the renovation of the building.
“Since then, three different contractors have been appointed and each one has demolished various parts of the police station.”
Kleynhans said people in police custody now have to be transported to other police stations including Petersburg which is about 80km from the city.
“Currently, there’s no renovation happening while the policemen and women are left with half the space they had before,” she said.
“No dog kennels, no holding cells. People who must be kept in cells have to be transported back and forth to Bainsvlei or Petrusburg.”
Meanwhile, Mashinini said his department is currently working on 23 road construction and refurbishment projects across the province with five of them expected to be completed this year.
The five roads which are being built at a cost of R162 million include: A238 or part of the N8 highway; Bultfontein-Welkom; Bultfontein-Wesselsbron; Villiers-Cornelia (Phase 1, only 6km) and Meloding-Virginia roads.
“As a result, no new projects are planned to start in 2020/21,” the MEC said.
“Of the 23 ongoing projects, five are planned for completion in 2020/21 and funds will be prioritised in a way that allows for the timeous completion of these projects without funding any new initiatives.”
The initial total fiscal budget for the department for this year was just over R3 billion, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was revised downwards to nearly R2.7 billion.
The Provincial Road Maintenance Grant was also reduced from about R1.4 billion to just over R1.2 billion.