Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa will announce the successful bidder for the R8-billion Gautrain rapid rail link in Pretoria on Saturday.
Shilowa failed to meet three announcement deadlines; the first in April, the second in May and a third at the end of June, to announce which of the two consortia — Bombela and Gauliwe — had won the bid.
The delays were ascribed to the fact that the parties needed more time to finalise the evaluation process. This was apparently due to the complexity of the bids.
Bombela and Gauliwe’s tenders were to be judged on their technical content, financial proposal, legal issues and socio-economic development, Gautrain chief executive Jack Van der Merwe said earlier this year.
The rapid rail link will be ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Van Der Merwe said in March.
”Both bidders have indicated they will finish in 54 months,” he said.
Once announced, work on the project will begin — including preparing land and moving services such as Eskom and Telkom.
The actual construction is due to start around October or November and be completed by February or March 2010.
Speaking at the opening of the provincial legislature in Johannesburg in June last year, Shilowa said the project will provide over 100 000 jobs.
”During the construction phase more than 57 000 jobs will be created. A further 39 000 jobs will be created during infrastructure development around the stations,” he said.
In addition, he said at least 2 000 permanent jobs will be created when the train became operational.
The Gautrain will cost about R2-million per hour to build over 260 weeks.
Travelling at speeds of up to 160km per hour, the train will operate for 18 hours a day with a minimum six trains per hour due to operate in each direction.
The project will involve laying 80km of railway lines, building 10 stations and digging around 28km of tunnels linking Pretoria and Johannesburg with the Johannesburg International airport through Sandton.
The Franco-Canadian Bombela Consortium consists of Bombardier Transportation, Bouygues Travaux Publics and RATP as well as construction firm Murray & Roberts.
The Spanish Gauliwe consortium is made up of Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), Dragados Concesiones de Infraestructuras and its local counterpart Grinaker-LTA, Tirisano and others. The companies are based in Britain, France and Spain. – Sapa