Winning bidder’s registration with the CIDB was suspended at the time the award was made.
Eight weeks have now passed since the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) suspended a R1.57 billion road maintenance contract it awarded to a Chinese-led joint venture and launched an investigation into the evaluation, adjudication, and awarding of the tender.
The investigation was launched in terms of an agreement between Sanral and Hillary Construction that was made an order of the High Court in Pretoria on 14 February 2025.
Sanral stated in its answering affidavit to an urgent application to the High Court in Pretoria by Hillary Construction, the second-lowest bidder for the contract, that the Sanral board “does not intend to take time to investigate the matter”.
“The Board has all the papers available to it. The parties that were involved are also within Sanral, i.e. the various committee members and employees of Sanral. The Board will obviously do its best to expedite the conclusion of the investigation,” it said.
In terms of that agreement, Sanral undertook to:
- Investigate the adjudication procedure followed in the award of the Masekwaspoort tender to Base Major Construction-China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and inform the parties of the outcome of that investigation; and
- Give the parties 14 days’ notice of any plans to uplift the suspension of the contract awarded to Base Major Construction-CSCEC for the Masekwaspoort tender.
The agreement did not place any time limit in which the investigation must be completed.
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‘No delay’ says Sanral
Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona confirmed on Wednesday the investigation has not yet been finalised and stressed that “there has been no delay in completing the investigation”.
He said the investigation is still underway and, pending the outcome, the implementation of this contract has been suspended.
“This is a significant tender of over R1.5 billion that is the subject of litigation involving both the joint venture and an unsuccessful bidder, Hillary Construction (Pty) Ltd.
“Sanral follows stringent and comprehensive procurement processes, with several layers where duties are segregated, and there is a multiple check and balances process,” said Mona.
“An investigation of this nature cannot, in the circumstances, be conducted overnight or rushed. This would not be in the interests of the litigating parties, being Sanral, the court and the public.
“There has been no delay in completing the investigation. All the relevant documents are under consideration and all relevant parties at Sanral are being consulted.
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“The investigation will be completed timeously, after undergoing all the necessary processes, and Sanral will comply with the court order.”
Mona said the construction site has not yet been handed over to the Base Major-CSCEC joint venture and therefore no site establishment costs have to date been incurred by Sanral.
Hillary Construction said on Thursday it sent letters to Sanral on 28 February, 14 March and 9 April about the status of the investigation.
It only received a response via email to the first letter from a legal representative from Sanral on 5 March 2025 advising it that the investigation is underway in accordance with the court order and indicating that it would revert as soon as possible on the completion of the investigation, as contemplated in the court order.
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CIDB suspension
The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) confirmed to Moneyweb on 11 February that Base Major Construction’s registration on the CIDB’s register of contractors was suspended at the time Sanral made the contract award.
CIDB corporate legal advisor Thembokuhle Khumalo confirmed that:
- The contractor was suspended on 24 November 2024 for failure to submit its annual update, which includes the payment of annual registration fees; and
- The suspension was lifted on 9 January 2025 following the submission of the annual update and payment of annual registration fees via the CIDB’s registration of contractors online registration portal.
Sanral’s website reveals that the contract was awarded to the Base Major Construction-CSCEC joint venture on 27 November 2024.
The CIDB’s website states: “Suspended means you are still registered but cannot trade with government until your suspension is lifted.”
The agreement between Sanral and Hillary Construction was reached after the latter applied to interdict Sanral from allowing the Base Major Construction-CSCEC joint venture from implementing and executing the contract pending the finalisation of Part B of Hillary Construction’s application.
Part B of the application is to review and set aside the contract award to the joint venture.
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Improvements to the N1 must wait …
The 42-month project is for the improvement of a section of National Route 1 from Masekwaspoort in Limpopo.
The Base Major Construction-CSCEC joint venture submitted a bid of R1 571 608 239.15 for the project.
Hillary Construction submitted a bid of R1 749 600.00 and Raubex Construction a bid of R2 386 851 000.65.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
