Delays in the Gautrain project cost construction group Murray & Roberts (M&R) R500-million in lost revenue in the past financial year, Business Report wrote on Friday.
M&R is part of the Bombela consortium, which won the contract for the R20-billion Gautrain project. Its share is worth R4,5-billion.
M&R chief executive Brian Bruce said major infrastructure delivery projects were being delayed by the ”inordinate amount of time” spent on environmental and process issues before the government was prepared to sign a contract.
There has been a six-month delay in the start of construction of the Gautrain.
The delay had resulted in M&R suffering from ”overhead underrecovery” because it had not been able to take on other construction projects, Bruce said.
It needed to keep people ready for when the project started. Bruce said this contributed to the poor performance of the group’s construction activities within the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Construction revenue declined by 4% to R2,12-billion and operating profit by 72% to R35-million.
Bruce said if construction on the Gautrain began without further delay, there was ”a chance” of delivering the first phase, the link between Johannesburg International airport and Sandton, in time for the 2010 soccer World Cup.
The link between Johannesburg and Pretoria would be completed 54 months after the project kicked off, he said. – Sapa