SA firm defends P61m bid book
Mqondisi Dube | Saturday September 30, 2023 06:00
The price for the 569-page document had faced criticism, but Ruben Reddy, the owner of the South African company, stated that the cost was justified. "The proposal to prepare the bid book is based on a resource plan and associated costs to undertake the production of the project. This includes the cost of specific expertise in sports bidding," Reddy told Mmegi Sport yesterday.
Initially, Botswana was supposed to share the production costs of the bid book with Namibia, with the costs set at P65 million. However, Namibia withdrew from the bid at the 11th hour, leaving Botswana to bear the costs of producing the document. Ruben Reddy Architects had approximately 30 days to produce the three-volume book. Reddy clarified that such tight time frames and resource requirements are common for international sports bids. He also emphasised that the information in the bid book belongs to Botswana and can be used for future projects.
"The information in the bid book is not lost to the people of Botswana as it provides a launch pad for further development of general infrastructure and specifically sport facilities," he said.
“This could be implemented over a longer period with a priority list that corresponds to the needs of the community where the infrastructure and facilities are located,” Reddy added. Reddy was part of the Botswana delegation that travelled to Cairo for the bid announcement on Wednesday. He gave highlights of the bid book as each bidding country was given 10 minutes to make a presentation.
At the end of the day, the CAF executive committee settled for the joint East African bid of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, popularly known as PAMOJA. Morocco got the nod to organise the 2025 tournament, amid an angry withdrawal from Algeria which accused CAF of manipulating the outcome. Meanwhile, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, addressing a press briefing in Gaborone, noted that some of the facilities upgrades would proceed but at a reduced scale following the country's failed bid.