Johannesburg - The SA National Road Agency Limited (Sanral) has served civil damages claims with a total value of between R600 million and R760m against seven JSE-listed construction firms and joint ventures that have admitted to colluding on tenders.
Vusi Mona, the communications general manager at Sanral, confirmed yesterday that summonses had been served against WBHO; Murray & Roberts (M&R); Concor, which merged with M&R in 2006; Group Five; Basil Read; Stefanutti Stocks; and Raubex.
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M&R, Basil Read and Raubex confirmed that they would be defending the claims. Group Five declined to comment. WBHO and Stefanutti Stocks failed to respond to a request for comment. Aveng said it had not been served with any form of legal processes.
Mona said the claims ranged from R2.9m to R561m and some of these firms had also formed joint ventures, which were also being sued.
Assessment
“The agency argues it suffered damages and overcharges as a result of the companies’ collusive conduct. This follows months of hard work in quantifying the damages we suffered. Some of our detractors doubted our intention to file for damages, accusing us of delays,” Mona said.
“But we had to be thorough in our assessment of the damages and were not going to be rushed into this action ill-prepared,” he added.
The seven companies were among those that admitted to collusion and rigging bids on Sanral tenders in settlement agreements reached with the Competition Commission in 2013 as part of the construction fast-track settlement process, which resulted in 15 firms agreeing to pay penalties collectively worth R1.46 billion.
M&R spokesman Ed Jardim confirmed that the group had received civil summonses from Sanral related to four completed roads projects.
Jardim said Sanral had issued a R562m civil claim jointly and severally against M&R, Concor, Stefanutti Stocks and WBHO related to the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project; a R22m claim jointly and severally against M&R, Concor and Group Five related to the Senekal-Vaalpenspruit project; a R6m claim jointly and severally against Concor and WBHO related to the Beefmaster intersection contract; and a R3m claim jointly and severally against Concor and WBHO related to the Tsitsikamma project.
Andiswa Ndoni, the executive officer of legal and corporate affairs at Basil Read, said the group had received a civil claim last month from Sanral for R84m on a joint and several liabilities with two other construction companies related to three projects.
Claims
These claims were related to the N1 Section 16 Glen Lyon/Zandkraal project; N1 Section 15 and 16 Glen Lyon/Zandkraal project; R40 Barberton reconstruction project; and 2006 Road Contractors meetings at which various construction companies agreed to allocate tenders and submit cover bids. Ndoni said Basil Read would be filing an appearance to defend the matter.
Raubex chief executive Rudolf Fourie said that Sanral had lodged a civil claim with a total value of R82m against it jointly and severally with other companies related to eight Sanral projects, of which two were awarded to Raubex.
However, Fourie said if they unpacked the claim, they believed Raubex’s exposure was R26m. “We need to analyse how they got to their quantum of damages. We have got audited profit and loss numbers on these projects and (Sanral’s) number is bigger.”
Fourie said Raubex acknowledged Sanral’s right to claim and was engaging with the agency, which was the group’s biggest customer.
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