Fengyue glass project to be auctioned this week
Bame Piet | Tuesday February 16, 2016 18:00
Sources close to the project say the two companies that showed interest in the project early last year did not offer any concrete commitment. One of the companies was from the United States of America whilst the other was from China.
“It is final, the project is not going to materialise, it’s a dead one and BDC should try something new,” said a source. The meetings held last year were the only hope.
Contacted for comment, the provisional liquidator for the Fengyue Palapye Glass project, Nijel Dixon-Warren, confirmed that his meeting with two potential buyers last year did not bring any desired outcome. “Unfortunately none of the interested parties came up with a substantive offer so we are in the process of auctioning and selling everything related to the project,” he said this week.
Dixon-Warren said they have engaged an international company with expertise on online auctioning and once they are done with the process they will then sell the remaining goods onsite. The website is: www.clearasset.co.za.
Dixon-Warren was not sure how much the goods will fetch but said they will be sold in lots and that they have been sitting on site since 2012. He was suspicious that the onsite goods may have lost value especially that even the expert they engaged could not give a proper estimation of their value. He added that they intend to sell the property separately depending on what the buyer intends to do with it.
For the property, he said, they are expecting to fetch between P25 million and P180 million and it will be auctioned around end of March.
“The evaluation was done and we are expecting the property to cost in the range of P25 and P180 million,” he said. The 100-hectare property is located adjacent to the Serowe-Palapye junction.
Among the goods on site are float glass plant and equipment, coal gasification plant, construction plant, and oxygen plant. The project stirred controversy after it emerged that the Chinese company that was in partnership with BDC was a shelf company with no experience whatsoever in glass manufacturing. There was also confusion as to which company was in the project between Fengyue China and Fengyue of Cayman Islands.
Chronology of events
2007 – The concept of a glass project is discussed between BDC and Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
2008 – A delegation is sent to China to identify and meet with potential partners for the project.
2009 – A plot is set aside for the project in Palapye and meetings are held between the partners – BDC and Fengyue Glass company.
2010 – Finances are availed for the project and the contractor mobilises to the site to start construction works.
2011 – Newspaper reports indicate that things are not going well with the glass project.
November: The National Assembly sets up a special select committee to investigate the allegations of corruption at the glass project.
2012 – The Parliamentary Report is released and BDC applies for liquidation of the project.
2013 – The liquidator reveals that the project was in a mess and that there were no records whatsoever of what was going on.
2015 – The liquidator announces that there are prospects of new owners taking over the company.