Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has confirmed November as the anticipated delivery month for the new Zandvlei weed harvester following the awarding of a tender for the vlei to a new contractor.
Numerous delays had befallen the procurement of the weed harvester which was initially expected in August 2021, then December, and was later postponed to early last year and then later in June.
This is also the second tender that the City has awarded to deliver the same weed harvester after the initial contractor’s failure to deliver it when it had hit a snag on available working capital.
The City said the tender was awarded to Eli Marketing, an approved distributor for Clark Marine Survey and Consulting, as the main service provider; and Bradexim trading as Stingray Marine as the stand-by service provider.
This it said would include the maintenance service plan which covers a period of 2000 working hours, includes all services and routine maintenance costs, labour costs, and parts; and is warranted for at least 24 months.
City Mayco member for corporate services Theresa Uys said the process took longer than anticipated due to the complexities associated with this type of machinery and that the City’s fleet management department was monitoring the project plan and timeline to ensure timeous delivery.
Zandvlei Trust chairperson David Bristow said the weed harvester saga at Zandvlei, which was arguably the most ecologically important estuary in the city, was a long and sad one. Bristow said the vlei was beset by pollution and seasonal aquatic weed infestation.
“Our rusty Kingfisher harvester is decades old and has broken so often it’s been dubbed Humpty Dumpty. Two years ago a new one was promised, but that promise evaporated in a bag of deceit by the contractor. We heard a new tender had been awarded, as South African law forbids the importation of one.
“So now we live in hope for delivery of a new machine. One positive is that our current mayoral team is hot on freshwater issues so this time we are hopeful,” he said.
Spatial planning and environment Mayco member Eddie Andrews said the old weed harvester was operating and that the Expanded Public Work Programme teams were employed to remove the weed by hand when the old weed harvester was unavailable or in for repairs.