In South Africa, the Gauteng provincial government has announced it has finalised negotiations and can now sign the concession agreement with Bombela Consortium as concessionaire for the construction, operations and maintenance of the Gautrain project.
Gauteng Premier, Mbhazima Shilowa said: “The project has moved into the next phase – construction.” Shilowa acknowledged the drawn out nature of the negotiations, but insisted it was unavoidable for “a project and agreement of this complexity, cost and duration”, citing the government’s responsibility to the taxpayers.
To simplify arrangements and to ensure there is a single accountability, the government has entered into a single contract with Bombela. Bombela has in turn entered into two separate contracts, one with the turnkey contractor and one with the operations and maintenance JV. Cascading down the supply chain, the turnkey contractor has two contracts, one with a civil JV and one with an electrical and mechanical JV. Similarly the operations and maintenance JV has a contract with a bus feeder and distributor company plus a maintainer.
