Contractor paid: Work to resume soon on Mzimkhulu River bridge in Port Shepstone
The MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, Siboniso Duma, said today (Friday) that the contractor responsible for the rehabilitation of the Mzimkhulu River bridge has been paid.
This is after a meeting with Provincial Treasury.
'We have received more than R800m from our budget. As pointed out a few weeks ago, as the Department of Transport, we experienced difficulties beyond our control,' added Duma.
'The National and Provincial Treasury's Basic Accounting System which is used to process payments was disrupted by the transition from the Standard Chart of Accounts (SCOA) 5 to 6. In addition, our payment system was also disrupted by the rechanneling of money to the Department of Education for the payment of teachers as governed by the National Norms and Standards for School Funding.'
He added that the contractor is on site and will be moving machinery in to continue with this important assignment.
'We have agreed that the contractor must aim to finish the rehabilitation of the bridge by December 2. In our engagement with Provincial Treasury, it was agreed that our invoices from contractors will be prioritised, ' said Duma.
He added that many other contractors have been paid and he apologised for the inconvenience caused to residents and the business community across all sectors.
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