A looming legal battle over a tender worth billions of rands looks set to delay the construction of the King Shaka International Airport at La Mercy, following accusations that one bidder's confidential information was given to its rival.
Building of the airport, bedevilled by delays and controversy for years, was meant to start in March, to be completed in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
A Section 21 company, Dube TradePort, had been set up by the KwaZulu-Natal government to facilitate the airport's development, but there have been questions raised about why Durban International Airport is being upgraded. To cut through the red tape, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe stepped in to fast-track the project to be ready by 2010.
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While the preferred bidder is due to be announced on Thursday, a series of communications detailing accusations and counter-accusations of improprieties has now culminated in letters threatening legal action.
Shortcomings The short-listed bidders in the Request for Proposal - the Indiza Group Consortium, headed by Grinaker-LTA, and Ilembe consortium, led by Group Five and Wilson Bailey Holmes - were announced by Premier S'bu Ndebele in September.
Although Grinaker-LTA and Group Five are at opposing sides of the La Mercy bid, both companies were part of a consortium which vied for the bid to develop the N2 Wild Coast toll road.
After an initial go-ahead by the Department of Environmental Affairs, the project was sent back to the drawing board after it was found that a non-executive director of Group Five, Rufus Maruma, founded the company which did the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the N2 development.
On November 24 Indiza was informed that, because of alleged non-compliance with essential minimum requirements, its bid would not go forward for a detailed evaluation.
Tender rules
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