ASJV denies it terminated Mtentu project owing to alleged ‘financial inability’
Aveng and Strabag International on Thursday reasserted that the Aveng-Strabag Joint Venture (ASJV) had terminated the Mtentu river bridge contract as a result of force majeure, adding in a statement that the termination “had nothing to do with either of the ASJV members’ financial ability to perform their obligations”.
Contesting allegations by Sanral that the JV may have terminated the contract owing to the financial difficulties being faced by Aveng, the JV reiterated that the ASJV had terminated the contract following civil unrest, commotion, protests and threats of harm that resulted in ASJV being denied access to the site and the ability to safely continue the execution of the project.
ASJV further added that the gravity and unprecedented nature of the situation was acknowledged by Sanral.
“The ASJV at all times emphasised that the force majeure event could not be considered to have come to an end until such time as the works could be safely resumed without consistent or continued endangerment of personnel or interruption of activities,” the statement said on Thursday.
According to the statement, either party had the right to terminate the Mtentu contract if a force majeure event prevented the execution of substantially all of the works in progress for a period of 84 days and/or if events or circumstances outside the control of the parties made it unlawful or impossible for the contractor to fulfil its obligations.
The Mtentu contract includes comprehensive dispute resolution provisions including final determination by the High Court.
The construction of the bridge would have resulted in a 1 132-m-long bridge crossing the Mtentu river, for the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), under the now-terminated Mtentu contract.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation