SA firm defends P61m bid book

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.