The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has applied to National Treasury for permission to negotiate with the  previously prequalified, but unsuccessful bidders, to complete the Mtentu bridge contract.

Failing this, the project will be re-tendered, says Sanral southern region manager Mbulelo Peterson.

The Aveng Strabag joint venture (ASJV) in February decided to terminate the Mtentu bridge contract, in the Eastern Cape.

The 1.1 km, R1.65-billion bridge forms part of Sanral’s N2 Wild Coast road project. Should it be completed, it will be one of the longest main-span balanced cantilever bridges in the world, and will reach heights of around 220 m.

ASJV believes it was unable and unsafe to work on the project site, owing to continuing community unrest and protest action.

The joint venture (JV) is currently in dispute with SANRAL, with the consortium appealing against a North Gauteng High Court ruling delivered in March that Sanral could institute damages claims for the contract.

Construction of the Mtentu bridge started in January 2018 and was scheduled to take about 40 months.

Owing to the termination of the construction contract, however, a new construction schedule will need to be established, says Peterson.

He adds that Sanral has not yet received permission from National Treasury to negotiate with previously unsuccessful bidders for the Mtentu bridge, but that talks will start as soon as it is granted.

There were six firms which prequalified for the Mtentu bridge project, and which submitted bids for the contract.

“However, it is unlikely all of them would be willing, or are in a position to negotiate,” notes Peterson.

The five unsuccessful firms, in no particular order, are Murray & Roberts (now Concor) Mota-Engil JV; Steffanuti, CMC, Rizzani De Eccher & Axyx JV; WBHO, EGC (Eiffage Genie Civil); Daewoo Basil Read JV and the Vinci Group 5 JV.

Peterson says should Sanral be given permission to negotiate with these five parties, it will take about six months to get a contractor on site – “12 months if we have to re-tender”.

“The timeframe for completion would have to be negotiated, but as ASJV had only effectively achieved two months progress on the 40-month programme, it is likely that any new contract would again be in the order of 40 months.”

The delay on the project is currently at around 11 months.

Will it be possible to complete the project at the same R1.65-billion price tag?

“This is unfortunately doubtful, but all additional costs will be recovered from the ASJV,” notes Peterson.

“Sanral is currently holding several hundred-million rands in sureties, as well as plant and equipment held on site as additional security, to ensure the taxpayer does not end up paying more.”
Peterson says Sanral is working hard to prevent any future possible delays as a result of community action.

“Wherever Sanral is working we have community access agreements in place, or have already completed the land acquisition process.

“There will, however, always be ongoing issues with communities during design, investigations, land acquisition and construction.

“Sanral has set up numerous avenues to raise and resolve these issues. These include project liaison committees, stakeholder forums, a local Sanral Flagstaff office and community feedback and engagement meetings by service providers.”