Cancelled road tender heads to court
Mpho Mokwape | Monday July 11, 2022 06:00
The controversial 27km road tender was recently cancelled and set for re-tendering but as it stands, residents of the three villages will have to wait a little longer for the road they have been expecting since 2019.
The tendering process has been marred by controversy since 2019 and on April 29, 2021, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) announced that the tender was stood down pending submission of confirmation and the availability of funds.
However, following the latest announcement, it has been reported that a dispute has arisen and the awardees are not happy with the latest development pertaining to the cancellation and have decided to take legal action. “The tender was halted with the understanding that the project will proceed once the confirmation is made regarding the availability of funds.
There was no progress for a long time and now it has been cancelled and set for re-tendering,” reads the document. While legal action regarding the tender is allegedly head way, residents had already given up as in early March this year the Minister of Transport and Communications, Thulaganyo Segokgo had announced in Parliament that the progress of the road had been stalled due to unforeseen circumstances.
He did not go into detail as to what has stalled the progress though initially it was reported that besides the unavailability of funds, the tender was also stalled to include the other road that was not in the initial plan.
Further, according to information reaching this publication, it is understood that following an assessment of the road, the roads department requested that PPADB halt the tender in order for the interchange at Super Save to be included and unfortunately it resulted with the decision to cancel the tender and re-tender again.
“This is the main reason the tender had to be cancelled and announced that it be re-tendered,” reads the papers. Meanwhile, as per the PPADB tender documents, the billion pula project was awarded to Consolidated Construction Company, Steffannuti Stocks Joint Venture and construction was scheduled to kick start early this year.
The awarding of the tender was done after a consultation company did the evaluation and made recommendations. Moreover, there were negotiations between the ministry and the contractor for variation of the project. According to information, the contractor negotiated with regards to the construction of an interchange at the Molepolole traffic lights being that it should be varied. The end results of the negotiation were the agreed variation and the interchange was to be constructed at a later stage when funds were sourced.
Then on April 9, 2021, PPADB approved the tender as per the ministry’s submission following successful negotiations with the contractor to vary the project. The Mogoditshane-Gabane-Mmankgodi road is one of those that benefited from the P3.6 billion from the stimulus package, which was announced in 2016 and was to be spent over the next three years. At the time, Ministry of Transport and Communications had gotten P229.3m for projects decongesting A1 and urban areas and residents of the Mogoditshane-Gabane-Mmankgodi were happy when it was announced that the junction dual carriageway road would be constructed to ease traffic.