Pretoria - Work to rebuild the troubled Wapadrand electricity substation in Pretoria east is expected to start in the first quarter of this year and will take at least 18 months to complete.
City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the contractor has been appointed for the period of three years, but was yet to move to the construction site.
Prior to the contractor embarking on the work on site the City would first have to obtain a permit from the national government.
Bokaba said: "The appointment of safety agents still needs approval by the Department of Labour. The appointment of the steering committee needs to be finalised."
In May last year, City mayor Randall Williams and DA leaders John Steenhuisen and Solly Msimanga visited the substation to disclose plans to rebuild the facility.
Their promise followed several power outages caused by the substation struggling to deal with the demands of power consumption.
It also emerged that the City finally received a R77 million insurance payout for the 2018 fire and it was working on a tender to have the substation rebuilt and capacitated to deal with the load.
Ward 85 councillor Jacqui Uys said the Wapadrand tender was awarded in the beginning of November last year.
According to her, the project has already started and that the smallest part of the project, which would be performed on site, was yet to begin.
"The rest (of the work) is to get all of the permits ready and apply to the national government for all of the correct permits and to order the equipment. All of those things are currently under way," Uys said.
She said the ordering of the equipment for the project has been done and that "the manufacturing thereof can take between eight to nine months".
"There are a couple of things that are happening simultaneously and after that is done the final part of the project will be on site and that will be the assembling of equipment and the actual new building is built," Uys said.
She added that the recently elected steering committee was still looking for a community liaison officer, who would be recommended to the contractor.
Interested candidates for a liaison officer position can still apply by forwarding their curriculum vitae to 084 810 3431 on WhatsApp.
"The steering committee has had one meeting to organise themselves but they have not yet met with the contractor and the city official. That will happen this year," Uys said.
Pretoria News