A lack of proper assessment and planning has blown the budget for the Dambuza/Edendale Road project, forcing Msunduzi Municipality to request additional studies and design work amounting to more than R1 million. With proper planning, potential hindrances would have been identified long before construction began, opposition parties said on Thursday. This follows a report tabled at the recent council meeting, which revealed that the bid adjudication committee is now seeking approval to increase the professional services budget from R2,7 million to R3,8 million.
The escalation is driven by the need for extensive additional studies, including topographical and geotechnical surveys, as well as hydrology and wetland assessments. These specialised investigations were triggered because the project area contains a watercourse that must be properly designed to prevent flooding once the road is completed. The report admits that “complexities on the ground” and regulatory requirements forced the municipality to commission specialist studies long after the project had already been scoped and costed.
The project was initially estimated to cost R50 million, but that amount had since ballooned to R107 million. A company appointed in May 2024 on a 14-month contract to handle the design phase must now undertake far more work than originally planned. Its preliminary findings estimate rehabilitation and construction costs at R107,4 million, excluding VAT, for the 1,6-km storm-water donga, with professional fees now projected at R21,6 million — significantly higher than the infrastructure department’s earlier estimates of R15 million and R2,7 million, respectively.
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Project timelines have also been thrown into uncertainty, with completion dependent on securing environmental authorisation from national departments. Even urgent rehabilitation cannot begin until that approval is granted. Opposition councillors slammed the ballooning costs as a clear sign of inadequate project preparation.EFF councillor Chuma Wakeni said the municipality’s failure to conduct thorough assessments at the outset directly led to the costly overruns.
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