Morero says R192m Lilian Ngoyi Street bill driven by underground tunnels and utilities

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero has defended the R192 million rehabilitation of Lilian Ngoyi Street, saying the bulk of the cost went into rebuilding extensive underground tunnels and replacing critical water and electricity infrastructure.

Mayor points to unseen work beneath the road

Morero made the remarks on Wednesday during a walkabout at the construction site alongside Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) officials and other city representatives. He said the visible road surface does not reflect the full scope of the project.

“That is why you see that there’s an argument about the cost of the road, but what people are commenting on is the upper surface of the road. They’re not commenting on what went underneath. It’s not a normal street that you construct and build in Soweto because there are no tunnels,”

He said the project involved reconstructing underground tunnels and installing new water and electricity infrastructure, and that additional infrastructure needs emerged during construction. Morero also said the city’s power utility, City Power, was still expected to complete one line.

“That is why you see the cost goes to about R192 million for the entire project, but part of that amount goes into the tunnels and the infrastructure that were to be built, and there’s also additional infrastructure that also came out as they were doing the construction that needed to also be covered,”

Delays, phases and legacy of 2023 explosion

The rehabilitation was triggered by a methane gas explosion on 19 July 2023 that killed one person and injured several others. The project had been scheduled for completion last month but the city has pushed the final completion date to 31 October.

The first phase of the project was completed in August 2025, with the reopening of the street officially announced in September. The second phase covers the remaining 1.8km of the road and includes work on sidewalks, paving and street furniture.

“We are confident on the 31st of October we’ll now be delivering an ending over the roadworks,”

Morero attributed some delays to cash-flow challenges within the city and said the municipality would welcome independent engineers to assess the project against the costs deployed.

“We welcome any independent engineers to come in and do an assessment against the cost of what we’ve deployed and we’re definitely sure that they’ll arrive at the same conclusion in terms of the cost that we deployed,”

JRA: major roadworks done, focus now on finishing touches

JRA CEO Zweli Nyathi said most major roadwork had been completed and that remaining tasks were largely cosmetic, including kerbs, piping and street furniture. He said contractors had assured the city the revised deadline could be met and that officials were conducting site inspections.

“The road is compacted, it’s just the side furniture and other things like kerbs and piping and all sorts of things, so it’s the cosmetics basically,”

New tunnels designed to reduce future risk

Nyathi said the rebuilt underground tunnels were designed to make access safer for city infrastructure and to reduce the risk of similar incidents in the future. He told reporters engineers encountered concrete structures and other underground conditions that required changes to original designs and led to variations in the project scope.

“Remember this was a gas explosion solely because the underground tunnels which were built in the 1950s couldn’t take the stress anymore and there was water and some cabling, electricity, so there’s a lot and some activities happening underneath,”

He said the rebuilt infrastructure was intended to last for decades and to allow easier access for city entities working beneath the road.

“We make sure that whatever we’re putting can take us maybe another 50 years if technology changes or anything, but we make sure that we accommodate everyone,”

The rehabilitation of Lilian Ngoyi Street remains a live construction site, with ongoing work affecting traffic and pedestrian movement in surrounding areas as the city works toward the revised completion date.