Johannesburg’s new forensic pathology services laboratory (FPS), first planned for completion in 2019 and sitting at a critical “98% complete” point, has had numerous delays, cost overruns, and missed deadlines, and has remained on pause due to an outstanding payment of about R100m owed to the contractor, reports News24.
While the fifth deadline facility has now come and gone, the state-of-the-art, “best in Africa” lab is still not up and running.
After years of delays, the deadline was previously extended until the end of September, but, says contractor Maziya General Services CC, it has still not been paid in full, and is now “anticipating completing the building before Christmas”.
Johannesburg FPS was moved from the Constitution Hill precinct in 1999, when the apex court was established, to make way for parking. It is currently housed in an old hospital that is not fit for purpose and was condemned several years ago.
The move was meant to be temporary, but it is still operating there under dire conditions, including continuous breakdowns of the cold storage rooms and ventilation issues.
The massive new four-storey lab, which will also be a teaching facility, a police forensic lab and a mortuary, was initially supposed to be finished in November 2019.
It was also expected to cost R588m, but costs have since ballooned to R703m.
Maziya’s chief operating officer, Lucky Qotoyi, said the company was still owed about R100m and although the project was almost complete and ready for inspection and handover, this could not be finalised until it was paid, as it also had to pay for furnishings in the building.
Qotoyi added that the facility now had a permanent power supply and could be released as soon as payment was received.
The “revised estimate” completion date for the FPS was tabled at the beginning of July during a Parliamentary Health Portfolio Committee meeting, when the document recorded that the facility was 98% complete.
It said the “project’s costs over-ran due to compensation events”. This was in reference to the non-payment of contractors, according to the DA’s Jack Bloom.
The document further stated that the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) had submitted a proposal for additional funding of R87m for completion – which the Gauteng Department of Health had accepted.
Once complete, the new lab will fall under the provincial Health department, and while the DID is the implementing agent, Health was charged with funding the costs. Despite this, the latter department referred all queries to the DID, which said it was the implementing agent and “does not make payments to Maziya”.
“Maziya submits invoices directly to the GDoH (Gauteng Department of Health) through the e-invoicing system and is paid directly by GDoH,” the DID said.
It added that neither itself nor the Health department had any outstanding invoices from Maziya General Services CC on the system, that there are no payments due or overdue to the contractor, and that it “categorically denies the claim that Maziya General Services CC is owed (about) R100m”.
“There is no invoice for such an amount on record, and this information is false and misleading,” it said.
Despite this, News24 has seen a letter of demand for payment addressed to both departments, which references the Parliamentary Health Portfolio Committee meeting where the provincial Health department accepted the additional funding proposal of R87m for completion of the project.
According to the letter of demand, Maziya is owed R85 116 567.43 exclusive of VAT. The letter is dated 13 October and gives the recipients 14 days to “remedy the defaults”.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Gauteng’s new multi-million-rand forensic lab still incomplete
Jo’burg R590bn pathology services building unfinished after six years
Gauteng forensic pathology workers down tools