KZN Transport Department exposes ‘fraudulent conduct’ in construction sector

CONSTRUCTION companies are engaging in "fraudulent conduct" to win bigger projects for which they have neither the capacity nor the capability to implement, leading to a high failure rate.

- THAMI MAGUBANE [e-mail]

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has warned that contractors who are supposed to be able to handle bigger projects based on their grading by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) are failing.

These revelations emerged during a briefing by the department to the members of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature finance portfolio committee on the performance of the department's contractors.

It revealed that it has since discovered that some of these companies are awarded bigger projects because they have "bought certificates (bought companies that owned the certificate and used those certificates to apply for work)" that gave them higher grading, not their capacity to handle big projects.

A recent list by the department shows that most contractors graded high by the CIDB are failing. Of the 30 contracts it assessed that were failing, it found that one was graded at level 6, five were graded at level 7, 13 were graded at level 8 and eleven were at level 9.

It was further revealed during the meeting that when it comes to the performance of contractors, the problem is twofold: it is contractors who do not have the capacity and consultants who do not take the work allocated by the department seriously.

Thabani Nkosi, CFO of the Department of Transport, detailed the challenges that have been identified.