Name and Location
N1/N2 Winelands toll highway project, Western Cape, South Africa.

Client
South African National Roads Authority Limited (Sanral).

Project Description
The project encompasses 105 km of the N1 highway between Cape Town and Worcester and a 70 km of the N2 between Bot river and Cape Town.

The toll-highway project will include the construction and upgrade of roads and associated infrastructure on certain portions of the N1 between the R300 and Sandhills, and on the N2, in the Western Cape; the construction and upgrade of portions of the road; the upgrade of the second bore of the Huguenot tunnel; the construction of toll plazas between the R300 and the Bot river; and the construction of the new, closed ‘cut-and-cover’ tunnel alignment through Helderzicht, extending west from of the Danie Ackerman primary school to the Victoria street interchange.

In 2003, the project was granted environmental authorisation and was gazetted as a toll road in 2008.

Value
As the project is a 30-year concession, Sanral has proposed to develop it through a public–private partnership.

The concessionaire will finance the construction, maintenance and operation through toll collection and will be required to hand over the road to Sanral after this time.

The overall cost of the project is estimated at R10-billion.

Duration
The concession contract for the proposed project will be for a 30-year period. It comprises the upgrade work on the N1 and N2 during an initial construction period of about three years and the upgrade, maintenance and operation of the road for the remaining 27 years

The initial construction works will take three years to complete. The operation and maintenance period for the public–private partnership project is expected to start in 2015, running to 2042.

Latest Developments
The City of Cape Town is returning to court to resolve an ongoing dispute over the proposed N1/N2 Winelands toll highway project, an official has said.

Transport mayoral committee member Brett Herron has said it will approach Western Cape High Court Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso for a procedural directive.

The directive is about Sanral's alleged refusal to hand over documents, which form part of its decision-making process in the project, despite a court order compelling it do so.

In May, the High Court granted the city an interim interdict, preventing Sanral from implementing or advancing the toll project, including the conclusion of any contract or start of construction.

The interim relief was granted pending the court's review of Sanral's decision to implement the toll project. The review date has yet to be determined.

As part of the interdict Sanral was instructed to hand over all documents proving that its board of directors had made decisions regarding seeking approval for the tolling project from the Minster of Transport at the time.

Sanral was also ordered to hand over a toll feasibility and strategy report, a financial analysis report produced in August 2007 and the "intensive traffic modelling" document.

However, the city has not received these documents.

The city has received about 60 files with "largely irrelevant documents" and has been told that some documents are being withheld because they were confidential.

These include bid documents of the consortium selected as the preferred bidder to be awarded the 30-year concession contract to operate the toll roads.

The city disputes that these documents are confidential, but has signed confidentiality agreements. Despite signing these agreements, the city has still not received the documents.

If the documents are found to be unsuitable for classification, the city will ask a judge to allow them to be revealed in an open court.

The city's legal battle is not against the physical undertaking of roadworks, but rather against the decision process that has been followed.

In the interdict judgment handed down in May, Judge Ashleigh Binns-Ward said it was not in contention that the Minister of Transport at the time, Jeff Radebe, and Sanral, had approved the declaration of the project without knowing its full cost and what the toll fees would be.

It was also not in contention that they had failed to consider whether the toll would be affordable or financially viable.

"The city believes that the people of Cape Town and surrounding areas are entitled to a full disclosure of the financial implications of the proposed N1/N2 Winelands toll project," says Herron.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Group Five, Basil Read, Bouygues Construction (lead construction partners).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Sanral, Kobus van der Walt, tel +27 21 975 4600 or email Waltjc@nra.co.za; or project manager Tiago Massingue, tel +27 21 957 4627, fax +27 21 946 1630 or email massinguet@nra.co.za.
Group Five, tel +27 11 806 0241, fax +27 11 803 5829 or email scoventry@groupfive.co.za.
Basil Read, tel +27 11 418 6300 or fax +27 11 418 6333.
Bouygues Construction, tel +33 1 3060 3300, fax +33 1 3060 4861 or email bouygues-construction.com.