The Gauteng provincial government has issued a tender seeking service providers to establish a mountain bike trail management plan and undertake detailed trail designs for the construction of the first 15 km of a dedicated mountain bike trail system in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (COH WHS) in the 2013/14 financial year.

This follows the completion of a feasibility study by COH WHS management authority Arcus Gibb, which investigated the feasibility of creating a core system of sustainable mountain bike trails within the existing road reserves to meet the demand for safe recreational cycling activities and to facilitate job creation.

This project signifies a departure from a process of providing services and infrastructure as a one-off project to a commitment to manage, maintain and improve mountain bike trails and a trail system to the benefit of the COH WHS and stakeholders, the department states.

The scope of work outlined in the tender documents is divided into two primary phases; trail management planning and detailed trail design and construction, ongoing maintenance and operational management.

Further, as part of the job creation and skills development process towards ongoing maintenance and management, a training and skills development component will be required to ensure that local trail maintenance crews have the required skills to undertake both construction and maintenance work once the trails become operational.

In terms of the funding strategy, the mountain bike trail feasibility study makes brief reference to opportun-ities to generate funding through the possible use of an “events fee”, as well as possible parking fees to be charged at various existing venues used by cyclists to park vehicles before their ride.

The tender documents outline that these options, along with possible other funding options aimed to provide an income for trail maintenance and management purposes, should be investigated in detail as part of a maintenance funding strategy and plan.

Criteria for the evaluation of bid proposals will centre on price, capacity and track record, as well as preferential procurement and compliance with broad-based black economic-empowerment policies.

The tender closed on May 2.