Reconstruction of Lilian Ngoyi Street to face further delays

The reconstruction of Lilian Ngoyi Street in Johannesburg will face further delays with the project now being pushed to 2026. However, city officials say the road will be accessible by August this year.

This follows the announcement that the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) ended its partnership with Step-Up Engineering, the company contracted to undertake the rehabilitation project of the street.

The road was damaged in July 2023 following an explosion caused by a gas leak underground.

VIDEO | The causes of the explosion were identified.

“It is by mutual agreement. It is not because Step Up could not reach their contractual obligations but we also had our own challenges as the city in paying companies on time. And companies would spread their money in different projects. So, there were technical delays also because City Power was also involved, Joburg Water was involved. So, there’s a whole lot of issues that JRA and Step Up were blaming each other about. JRA then decided to terminate and Step Up went to court, that’s when I intervened and we reached this settlement,” says Transport MMC Kenny Kunene.

He says the city has appointed Korone Engineering to take over the project.

The first phase, covering the stretch between Harrison and Kruis streets is scheduled for completion by August this year, while the second phase is said to be completed by August next year.

“By August, the first phase should be done. The first phase is the rehabilitation of Lilian Ngoyi, it’s the work that needs to be done; the second phase is what we were planning to do to clean up the precinct. To deal with the walkways, to make it look beautiful. So, it is more cosmetics. “