The Democratic Alliance (DA) is displeased and concerned about the slow building project in Kopanong hospital.

“The constant stoppages for the building of COVID-19 Wards at the Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging shows the failure of the Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department,” the DA has said.

According to the party, the department has a track record of the poor execution of projects, choosing unskillful contractors, which results in missed deadlines and wastage of money. “Gauteng Premier, David Makhura promised last year that there would be 300 extra beds at the Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging to assist with the COVID-19 epidemic in the Vaal area, but there has been another work halt this week that has delayed this project further,” the DA said.

DA Councillor, Elize Aucamp said that the contractors came back on site on 7 January after not working for a couple of weeks. They stopped work again last week Tuesday. The project began on 29 June last year using Alternative Building Technology (ABT), which then Health MEC, Bandile Masuku said would be completed by 31 October 2020 but that has not been the case.
“The provincial government later confirmed that it would be finished by 30 November. But last week Premier Makhura said that legal action was being taken against the contractor after work had come to a halt.

According to a recent presentation to the Gauteng Legislature’s Health Committee, the project is left with 30% to be complete and is scheduled to be completed fully by 31 March this year. The DA said that the main problem is that hospitals in the Vaal area are battling with the great volume of COVID-19 patients.