WATCH | ‘Delayed doesn’t mean failed’: Dada Morero on Joburg’s R192m Lilian Ngoyi Street project

Joburg mayor Dada Morero has rejected claims that the city has failed to deliver on the Lilian Ngoyi Street rehabilitation project.

He said cash-flow challenges and the complexity of rebuilding underground infrastructure caused the two-month delay.

Morero made the remarks during a walkabout at the site on Wednesday morning, where he said the entire project was expected to cost about R192m.

The project’s first phase was completed in August 2025, although the street’s reopening was only officially announced in September. Phase two, which involves rehabilitating the remaining 1.8km stretch, is now expected to be completed by October 31.

“We were supposed to close on the 31st of August, but we had a two-month delay,” Morero said. “It’s a normal occurrence in projects of this nature. We are honest and upfront that we had cash-flow issues in June and July, which then delayed this project by two months,” he said.

WATCH | The City of Johannesburg has called the media to “set the record straight” on the deadline and ongoing rehabilitation of Lillian Ngoyi Street. Mayor Dada Morero is expected to conduct a walkabout at the site. pic.twitter.com/RJhfs6qndW— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) September 9, 2026

He said a fall in the city’s collection rate during the financial year-end period affected its ability to pay contractors and creditors.

“Our collection rate dipped around that month, which meant we were going to have challenges. I think in the last two months we have seen an increase to a 90% collection rate, which puts us safely in a better position to manage payment of our suppliers,” Morero said.

“Now we have pushed, and we know that we are going to be able to meet our new deadline, which is the 31st of October.”

The project followed the July 2023 explosion on the then-Bree Street, which damaged the roadway and exposed the ageing service tunnels beneath it.

Morero said the visible road surface represented only part of the work.

“The money went into ensuring that the tunnels and the infrastructure underneath are proper. This is not a normal street … Here there are tunnels that we have had to reconstruct, rebuild and also deploy water infrastructure and electricity infrastructure underneath,” Morero said.

“That is why the cost goes to about R192m for the entire project.

“We are also saying, as the city, we welcome any independent engineers to come in and do an assessment against the cost of what we have deployed,” he said.

WATCH | The Johannesburg Roads Agency said the delay to the rehabilitation is due to the tunnels because they had to do extensive work as the old ones were decayed and crumbling. JRA CEO, Zweli Nyathi said that the tunnels are the ones that contributed to the high cost of R192m.… pic.twitter.com/RIn0CpOz1t— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) September 9, 2026

“We are definitely sure that they will arrive at the same conclusion in terms of the cost that we deployed. We are confident that on the 31st of October, we will be delivering and handing over the road.”

Johannesburg Roads Agency chief executive Zweli Nyathi said much of the difficult work had already been completed, with the remaining tasks concentrated on the street’s upper layers, paving and public-realm features.

“The road is compacted. It’s just the street furniture and other things, like kerbs, piping and all sorts of things. So it’s the cosmetics, basically,” Nyathi said.

He said the rebuilt tunnels and services were designed to prevent recurring failures and make future maintenance easier.

“We have new tunnels that we have designed to accommodate the infrastructure so that there are no recurring explosions. It will also make it easy for our sister entities to carry out certain works,” he said.

“We had to put in proper standard pipes that will take us for the next 50 years as well,” he said.