During a Madibeng council meeting last week, a report was tabled for the proposed development of a new municipal building.

According to the report, the current municipal building in Brits does not “comply with national building regulations” which poses a serious risk to employees and customers.”

It was suggested that a “transaction advisor on risk ” be appointed to assist with sourcing funds and developing a government building which will house government institutions, municipal offices and council chambers.

According to the report there are no building plans for the current building, making it difficult to make any structural changes to ensure it is fully compliant. “It is against this backdrop that management identified as a need to develop new offices and council chambers to house increased staff at main building and increased numbers of councillors.”

Vacant land owned by the municipality next to Ngwenya Estate, has been identified as a location for the new building. It is suggested the municipality enter into a land availability agreement with a developer where the developer uses his own funds for the development while the municipality retains ownership of the land.

The report states that a final proposal on revenue split will be concluded for council approval before construction starts.

The report recommends that the detailed proposal be approved by National Treasury and the council before commencement of the project.