Johannesburg - The SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has been accused of procrastination in taking action to claw back the overcharges from the construction companies that colluded on its tenders.
Wayne Duvenage, the chairman of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, previously named the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance, has also warned Sanral that in seven months from now the ability of the agency to claim damages on behalf of the people of South Africa would prescribe.
Read: Sanral dragging its heels on collusion claims
The Competition Commission’s investigation into bid-rigging on 300 construction projects, valued at R47 billion, resulted in the Competition Tribunal in July 2013 confirming settlement agreements with 15 firms that agreed to pay penalties worth R1.46bn for collusive tendering.
Among these settlements were 24 road rehabilitation and upgrading tenders issued by Sanral, including the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.
Duvenage said over the past two-and-a-half years there had been a lot of talk but seemingly very little action from Sanral to claw back the overcharges from the collusive construction companies.
He said the purpose of this legally required action by Sanral would not only be fitting punishment for the unacceptable behaviour of the collusive companies, but would also alleviate cash flow pressures experienced by this state-owned entity and, ultimately society, whose taxes and toll fees were used to keep Sanral afloat.
Legal duty
“Sanral have a both a moral and legal duty to fetch these overcharges from the collusive companies, failing which their leadership could be held accountable for their lack of meaningful action.
“Furthermore, Sanral is obliged to be transparent and meaningfully informative of their actions on such matters so as to keep the public and the media abreast with detail thereof. What could be taking them so long to determine the extent of the overcharges and to process these claims?” asked Duvenage.
Sanral did not respond to a list of questions e-mailed to the agency and its communication consultants.
Vusi Mona, the general manager of communications at Sanral, told Business Report in January “the legal process is well under way and progress has been made”.
“As other entities of government such as municipalities, the Department of Water and Sanitation, Transnet, etc have been affected, government will make an announcement in due course,” he said.
Bloomberg reported last year that Sanral planned to file civil damages claims in June of that year against the implicated companies.
Sanral previously confirmed that 12 construction companies, including joint ventures, were to face civil damages claims from the agency for collusion and bid-rigging on its tenders.
Alice Matthews, the company secretary and risk officer for Sanral, said in February that the process to calculate the damage to the public purse through independent legal experts and economists appointed by Sanral had been concluded.
Quantify
However, Mona contradicted Matthews’ comments, saying a process to quantify the damages suffered by Sanral was part of the legal process and was “still under way”.
Moneyweb last week reported that Nazir Alli, Sanral’s chief executive, said the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project constructions cost was determined through an open tender process and independent experts were calculating the extent to which Sanral overpaid as a result of collusion between construction companies that was later revealed.
It quoted Alli as stating that Sanral would endeavour to recover it.
Last month media reports claimed that Alli’s term as chief executive of Sanral had been extended until June.
Alli announced his retirement as chief executive of Sanral in July last year.
BUSINESS REPORT