Unlikely that Lilian Ngoyi Street will be reopened by deadline

The City of Joburg has just two weeks to complete the rehabilitation of Lilian Ngoyi Street, formerly Bree Street, with several key components of the R230m project still less than halfway complete, with road and sidewalk paving only 35% complete.

The August 30 deadline it had given itself is looming for the 1.8km stretch between Ntemi Piliso Street and End Street, with the city yet to confirm that the thoroughfare will reopen on time.

Phase 2 of the street rehabilitation project officially began in September 2025, following the completion and partial reopening of Phase 1, which focused on the “beautification” of the street.

The road was badly damaged when a methane gas explosion occurred on July 19, 2023, resulting in the death of one person. Many others were injured.

Sowetan visited the construction site between the Bree Taxi Rank and MTN Taxi Rank. Workers were seen paving the road, with stacks of bricks waiting to be placed. On some portions of the road, much of the gravel remained untouched, and piping was still being removed from the ground.

A few business owners on the street said they were not confident the work would be completed by the expected deadline.

Cellphone repair shop owner Jasin M said business hadn’t been good since construction started.

“That is because of the heavy drilling and the dust from the construction that hangs in the air has been affecting us,” he said.

“They [the city] did say that they will complete or try to finish at the end of the month.

“They’ve been pushing more for the past weeks and often even working into the night, so we will have to see.”

Another business owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, also said business had been bad and that he doubted construction would be completed by the end of the month.

“They still have a long way to go; they won’t make it to the end of the month, and it’s going to affect my business even more.”

The head of infrastructure development in the city, Kwazelela Mcetywa, said the project had experienced minor delays earlier this year because of wet weather and the relocation of underground services.

The latest construction figures supplied by Mcetywa show that some of the most important work still has significant ground to cover before the deadline.

Lilian Ngoyi Street, formerly Bree Street, in Johannesburg’s CBD after the explosion. Road and sidewalk paving is currently only 35% complete, meaning 65% of this work remains.

Construction of road and sidewalk layers is at 48%, leaving 52% still to be completed, while the removal and installation of new electrical lighting and traffic signals is 50% complete, leaving half of that work outstanding.

The installation of new stormwater pipes is further ahead at 68%, but 32% remains unfinished.

Mcetywa said the construction of sewer, water and stormwater infrastructure, including kerb inlets, manholes and junction boxes, was 85% complete, leaving 15% outstanding.

Barricading of the construction site is at 90%, while exposing and relocating services by Joburg Water is also at 90%.

Grubbing, milling and removing existing asphalt and paving are at 95%.

Mcetywa said the total budget allocated for the project was R230m inclusive of the allowable 20% variation.

He said there had been no budget increase since construction began.

Questions about whether Treasury’s withholding of half of the city’s conditional grant had affected the project’s financial flow were not answered.

“Further details will be communicated through a media release later this month,” Mcetywa said.