Cape Town - The City said it was not backing down from pending litigation with the company responsible for managing the desalination plant at the V&A Waterfront.
Mayco member for water and waste services Xanthea Limberg said she had noted with concern the allegations levelled against it by Quality Filtration Systems (QFS).
“The City has been reluctant to respond to these allegations in the media, due to binding confidentiality provisions contained in the mediation agreement between the parties.
“It is noted that QFS has disregarded these confidentiality provisions,” Limberg said.
She said that given that summons had now been issued against the City and the matter was now the subject of court proceedings, it did not intend to litigate through the media.
“The City, however, wishes to place on record that it does not agree with the various allegations made by QFS regarding misrepresentations and contractual breaches by the City, and it intends to strongly defend the court action,” she said.
Earlier this month, QFS lodged court papers in the Western Cape High Court.
QFS was contracted in January last year to provide one of three desalination plants to provide fresh drinking water.
The company then entered into mediation with the City for five days. No consensus was reached. The mediation process ended in April. According to the company, the City was now blocking the mediation report from being made public.
According to reports, the plant could not produce desalinated water at times due to turbidity and algae blooms, which were natural occurrences.
Turbidity refers to the degree to which water loses its transparency
due to the presence of suspended particles.
The plant began producing water at the end of May last year. The plant has been dormant since January. QFS is suing the City for the contractual value of R53 million with the additional costs, plus the damages still to be determined.
QFS have been in protracted
negotiations with the City over contractual disputes over the V&A desalination plant QFS was contracted to build.
Managing director of QFS Herman Smit said: “QFS had to force the City into mediation on October 31, 2018, with no settlement reached.
“After no reply from the City was received to QFS’s request for arbitration we lost all hope that the City was
bona fide in seeking a solution to the matter.
“The cost of legal fees for the City, given their propensity to throw five lawyers at every problem (as
with mediation), are likely to be exorbitant.
“This is ratepayer funds being wasted on a case that should not be anywhere near a high court.”
@MarvinCharles17