Still no work on Nooitgedacht water project after money dries up

IT has been a month since contractors downed tools at the Nooitgedacht water scheme project and it is still unclear when work will resume.

Work has been suspended since March 26 and contractors are not on site.

One of the contractors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “There’s still a lot outstanding and the contract is under suspension until we are paid, and we can’t go back to work until all the outstanding money has been paid.”

About R32-million is owed to the companies contracted to do the expansion work.

The Nooitgedacht water scheme is set to add a further 70 megalitres of water to the city’s supply.

The contractor said it has been difficult to get hold of Amatola water board to get a definitive answer on when they would be paid.

Amatola Water is the implementing agent for the project, while the national Department of Water and Sanitation is responsible for the funding.

“We keep getting told we’ll be paid in the week to come for the whole month and it hasn’t happened. Last week we were told we’d be paid on the Friday [April 15] but it still hasn’t happened,” he said.

Contractors are paid based on the work that is completed at the time.

“If we work in March, they pay in April and so forth. Right now it’s been January, February and by the end of this week it’ll mean the March invoice hasn’t been paid.

“There’s a lot of suppliers that we’ve told that we can’t pay them until we get paid from Amatola, but I mean we’ve made sure our wage and salary guys are paid,” he said.

Amatola Water spokeswoman Connie Buso said a portion of the outstanding amount was paid to the contractor last week and the remaining amount would be paid after invoices were processed by the Department of Water and Sanitation.

“The delay in payment has been as a result of a high backlog of outstanding prior financial year invoices that are with the DWS [Department of Water and Sanitation].

“The processing of the outstanding invoices by DWS is currently in progress, and work on the project is expected to resume next week.”