‘We wish to announce the commencement of the construction project to rebuild Lillian Ngoyi Street,” said City of Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda on Thursday, 11 January.

He was giving a status update on the rehabilitation process of Lilian Ngoyi Street (formerly Bree Street) after the deadly explosion six months ago, on 19 July 2023, killed 34-year-old Joseph Dumisane and injured 48 others.

The explosion damaged a 700-metre stretch of the road, one of the busiest in the city’s CBD, which has since been closed, severely affecting local businesses and reportedly leading to a spike in crime in the area.

Executive Mayor of Joburg Kabelo Gwamanda (centre) with his MMCs during an oversight visit to Lilian Ngoyi (formerly Bree) Street on 24 July 2023. The visit followed the report made by the city’s technical team on the gas explosion. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle)

Gwamanda continued: “As of today, we have a contractor on site who has been appointed to conduct the following: excavation and removal of the rubble and damaged infrastructure; demolition and removal of the service tunnels; construction and replacement of the service tunnels and infrastructure; installation of modern health and safety measures to mitigate the risk of similar disasters in future.

“This includes gas, heat and smoke detection and ventilation systems; and installation and provision of smart infrastructure in line with our requirements as the city.”

Explaining the delay in the rehabilitation, Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) CEO Zweli Nyathi said the construction phase began only on Thursday due to compliance issues and the release of funds.

“We were waiting for permits from the Department of Public Works which were received on the 19th of December 2023. You don’t just work with such figures without them knowing,” said Nyathi.

City manager Floyd Brink, who was reappointed in November after the court forced him to vacate his position, said the city was acting with speed.

“We were very clear from the onset that we would not waste time in ensuring that we act with diligence and speed to allow for the rehabilitation and in the process making sure we comply with all the regulations.

City of Johannesburg officials on an oversight visit to Lilian Ngoyi (formerly Bree) Street on 24 July 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle)

“Rehabilitation of the street has commenced and will cost about R196-million. The amount of R196-million should not be misconstrued. It includes all other services such as; professional fees and R13-million contingencies for the project.”

Read more in Daily Maverick: City of Joburg still has no idea what caused Lilian Ngoyi Street gas explosion — rebuilding yet to begin

Brink said the city had reprioritised the city’s budget to pay for the refurbishment but he did not provide specific details of where the money was reallocated from.

The city had planned to fund the construction by having a provincial state of disaster declared, but it was unable to access disaster funding after its request was rejected.

Initially, a budget of R178-million was estimated for the refurbishment of Lilian Ngoyi Street.

When asked by media how they would ensure costs wouldn’t balloon as repairs were ongoing, neither the mayor nor city manager could promise costs would not escalate. 

The mayor said the city could not be rigid with a specific amount and he suggested the rehabilitation project might be expanded to cover other areas of the CBD.

“It is a known fact that Johannesburg’s infrastructure is old”.

Brink told the media the rehabilitation project would be managed by the JRA, which falls under Transport MMC Kenny Kunene’s department. 

The companies hired for the rehabilitation work are Durapi Consulting and Step Up Engineering.

According to Kunene, the project will create 80 work opportunities, while six small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) will also participate. 

The city has allocated at least R25-million of the total budget towards the SMMEs and local sourcing packages which include manhole construction, paving, road markings and stormwater installation.

“This is thus the beginning of a new era for Lillian Ngoyi Street, the high court precinct and the inner city as a whole,” said Gwamanda.

While an August 2023 investigation identified methane gas as the cause of the explosion, in December the city said it had not established the specific source of the gas.

DA Johannesburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the party visited the site on Wednesday and no construction had taken place, claiming the current coalition administration had failed residents.

“It’s unfortunate that the mayor had to wait more than half a year to give an update to residents. His update is purely to counter the fact that the DA went on oversight to expose the fact that nothing was happening on site.

“One has to ask yourself [if] the DA did not do the oversight yesterday whether this update would have been forthcoming. We know that the local state of disaster request was declined and the mayor did not take the residents into [his] confidence as to where the budget is coming from. He is simply announcing without any plan or budget allocation.”

She continued, “The executive mayor said nothing about the flooding and the dire situation the stormwater drains are in the city that caused flooding, he is completely out of touch with the city he leads.”

“It’s a shame that this doomsday coalition had brought Johannesburg to its knees.” DM