Work to resume on Tongaat Mall

For almost two years incomplete walls and piles of rubble have stood untouched at the site of the collapsed Tongaat Mall.

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Durban - For almost two years incomplete walls and piles of rubble have stood untouched at the site of the collapsed Tongaat Mall, but work on the project is now set to resume.

The Department of Labour handed control of the site over to Gralio Precast, under contract to the project’s new developers, at an engineer’s meeting there on Monday.

In November 2013, a portion of the mall structure collapsed during construction. Two workers were killed and 29 injured.

A well-placed source within the department said concerns over the integrity of the structure were allayed at Monday’s meeting.

Plans were submitted and the parties involved discussed which parts of the structure would be demolished and which parts would be retained.

“About 40 to 45% of the structure is going to be demolished,” he said.

This included the area adjacent to the nearby railway line, that, according to the original plans, would have been the back of the mall.

Several changes to the original plans had been made. These related to, among other things, entry points and the clearance distance from the railway line.

He said a mezzanine level was to be added and that the portion of the structure which was to be retained would be reinforced.

“Walls are going to be tied back and columns braced,” the source said.

At the time of the partial collapse, Gralio Precast – which lists businessman Jay Singh’s son, Ravi Jagadasan, and Singh’s ex-wife, Shireen Annamalay, as directors – was carrying out construction at the site.

At the time it was under contract to the original developer, Rectangle Property, which lists Jagadasen as sole director, but Rectangle Property has since signed a sale of property agreement with Keystone Investments.

During the Department of Labour’s commission of inquiry into the cause of the mall’s collapse, which ended earlier this year, concerns were raised over alleged poor workmanship and disregard for labour regulations and court orders.

Control of the site was handed over to Gralio Precast on Monday, based on an agreement that the original developers were not permitted to pursue development of the project, the departmental source said.

It was also understood that the new developers would comply with the department’s requirements and apply for the necessary permits and the source said the department would supervise the project.

Keystone Investments chairman, Louis Peens, said on Monday that demolition was expected to begin next month and development early in the new year.

The new multimillion-rand mall would be opened, under the name Palm Crescent, in March 2017.

“If we’re lucky, we’ll finish sooner though,” he said.

On Monday night Singh said he would no longer have any form of involvement in the project.

He declined to comment on the sale of property agreement or on a report the Department of Labour was preparing to submit to the National Prosecuting Authority, now that the commission of inquiry was over.

According to the departmental source, this report was “almost complete” on Monday.

He said the site had been thoroughly documented ahead of the resuming of construction work.

“We’ve gathered photographs, videos and aerial footage,” he said.

This evidence would, if requested, be made available to the Director of Public Prosecutions and would be used in the formation of new laws governing construction.

Daily News