Slow progress on R260m Louis Botha Avenue upgrade has Mboweni fuming

Finance minister Tito Mboweni has demanded answers as to why the R260m Louis Botha Avenue improvement project in Johannesburg has seemingly gotten "stuck".

Asking "what is going on there?", Mboweni on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the fact that the project, which started in mid-2018, has not moved forward.

"I was so excited about this project," he tweeted. "I drove on that road today, and it seems stuck. This has been going on for a long time now. I am not getting answers."

He said he would visit Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) offices on Thursday to get answers.

Planned construction work on the road included:

• demolishing an existing bridge and interchange at Watt Street;
• building a new link from Rautenbach Avenue to Watt Street;
• upgrading the Pretoria Main Road intersection; and
• constructing new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes and a station.

SowetanLIVE's sister publication TimesLIVE has reached out to the JRA for comment. This story will be updated when the agency responds.