The City of Joburg has sought to assure residents that the rehabilitation of Lilian Ngoyi Street in the CBD, will be completed by the end of August this year.
This after the street, which previously known as Bree Street, was damaged following an underground gas explosion in 2023.
The project was stalled following a legal stand-off between the municipality and previous contractor, Step-Up Engineering.
This has since been resolved after a mutual separation agreement and settlement with Step-Up Engineering, which initially demanded compensation for money lost in the profit but was only paid for the work done.
The Executive Mayor, Dada Morero, Transport MMC Kenny Kunene, and other stakeholders, conducted an oversight visit at the site earlier on Monday.
Morero said motorists will be able to use the road safely by August this year.
The completion of the Lilian Ngoyi, which will be completed in August 2025, which is the first work stream, meaning where the explosion happened.
The second work stream will be completed in 2026 August, which is more about the complete street project, to extend the pavements and to beautify the entire Lilian Ngoyi Street,” said Morero.
The mayor also announced that the budget for the rehabilitation of the street is now R194 million.
According to Kunene, the rehabilitation project will create 80 jobs, benefit SMMEs, and will also ensure the transfer of skills
“Job creation is always very important to mention.
We have a few SMMEs that are going to be contracted to do work.
Both the employees and the SMMEs will be skilled and trained.
There’s about R26 million that will go into the SMMEs development.
We are happy that there’s progress,” explained Kunene.
In addition, Kunene expressed confidence with the new contractor, Korone Engineering, as they have managed to pump out water out of the tunnels and are currently stabilising them.
