Durban 2010 R 6.5million website cost explained

How would you describe the R 6.5million cost for the Durban 2010 website?

  • A fair price considering what must be done

    Votes: 8 4.3%

  • It depends on the scope of the project

    Votes: 15 8.0%

  • Simply too much money for a web portal

    Votes: 164 87.7%
  • Total voters
    187
I think the R 6.5million price tag was never well explained. From what Adapt IT said it is certainly not the price for a web portal design, but rather for everything regarding the design, implementation and the running of the site. With a team of 10 people for 14 months to complete the project the price does not look particularly high.

I personally think Adapt IT and the City of Durban should be judged after the completion of the project – it may well be a worthwhile investment if it is executed well.
 
Oh, now I understand, they used SharePoint... so they had to hack, customise, barstardise, cut, paste, google with no results, to make it work. The deployment probably cost R6m of the R6.5m. :D
 
Maybe it will be worthwhile and hope that the end product/service is all good. I just can't get over the price tag in recessionary times. Are they really going to get that much from it by way of tourism? We'll see.
 
Shred said:
Oh, now I understand, they used SharePoint... so they had to hack, customise, barstardise, cut, paste, google with no results, to make it work. The deployment probably cost R6m of the R6.5m. :D
Click to expand...

Lol.

It's better now that they have released where the money has gone and I agree that the origional statement was misleading. Notch one up for transparency.

Maybe it will be worthwhile and hope that the end product/service is all good. I just can't get over the price tag in recessionary times. Are they really going to get that much from it by way of tourism? We'll see.
Click to expand...

If they're smart about it they could make a lot of that money back in advertising.
 
I really really really really can't believe people voted for the first two options. 6.5 million rand for a website? THAT IS RIDICULOUS! (Even if it is a portal built on sharepoint). I can do the same for 4 million. Maybe 250k to do the job and the rest for my car and house.
 
RPM. Nothing justifies that price tag. I am a Durban ratepayer so I have a right to be highly pee'ed off it. If it was a private company then they can do what they like. I am satisfied by the various expert opinions that the same end goal could have been obtained for a price tag of about R200k or so.

This is blatant nepotism and a waste of ratepayers money. End of story.
 
14 months and 6.5million... either Adapt IT are hopelessly incompetent or corrupt or both.
 
10 guys at R20,000pm over 14 months is R2.8 million ... over 40% of the cost?
 
i find it hard to find any way to justify that much money being channelled towards a website.
 
I can reiterate that one will have to look at the full project description – it is not only building the site, it also involves maintain it, creating content and the like. To explain it in simpler terms – if I am asked to install a Wordpress blog I can easily do it for a few hundred rand. But if one has to update the blog with originally created content it is a different story.

The price really depends on what the project involves. If it needs 10 people to do the work the price tag is certainly not particularly high. High end designers demand a high end salary, and other costs always slip in.

I think a good question will be for someone to indicate what they can do the job for – and then see if they can fulfill all the demands of the city…
 
EDIT: Double post, dunno how this snuck in... might have hit too many buttons in my rush to leave work :P
 
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I doubt Durban needed anything that fancy! Less is more, and these days that kind of money could have been spent on helping the homeless since suckspliff made it illegal to pay beggars on street corners. a good looking website with less bling and sophistication that required less day to day maintenance could have done just as good a job! Its a waste!
 
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heheh at least it's not the default sharepoint theme. 6.5m is not really all that much money in the scheme of tourism and 2010 - NOT to say that it's not a crap load of money.

Hell thats 4 ministers cars... at least this has a useful purpose to the public unlike the ministers.... or their cars.
 
what i was getting it as along what LabAnimal is saying.

I suppose the real question is whether we think the R6.5mio spend was necessary for Durban to attract World cup visitors, especially given that it is a host city and is likely to have one of the big teams playing there.

EDIT: As you may have guessed I do not think it was necessary.
 
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This money could have been used to buy Merc's and BMW's for city staff! Or at least we could have thrown a second inauguration party for the KZN premier. I think we need to look at wasting money more effectively. 14 months to blow R6.5 million? Too long. We have seen time and time again we can waste twice this amount in half the time. I am disappointed.
 
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yup!. Lets see now, Durban's suburbs needs lots of work! Grass growing out of pavements, uneven and damaged sidewalks, water pipes forever bursting (regardless that they're busy updating the plumbing around Ethekwini!) Durban no longer has any reliable public transport!, Its unsafe at night, not enough police presence!, Many street lights don't work around Durban, simply too dark. Litter allover the place ...

In short, there's a good reason why they call this place Dirtbin, and they want to spend that kind of money on a website? - PHlease! Honestly, if they want to promote Durban, they need to clean it first!
 
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