Sanral slates sector CEOs’ concerns

The board of the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), chaired by Themba Mhambi, has dismissed concerns raised by the construction and civil engineering industry this week regarding its move to cancel major road construction tenders to the tune of almost R17.5 billion.

In a strongly worded statement, Sanral labelled some of the comments made by leaders in the industry as “unfactual” and “sensational”, noting it would hold a media briefing on Monday to “set the record straight”.

Sanral’s latest statement follows Moneyweb on Wednesday breaking the news of the cancellation of the tenders, which cover some of the country’s most significant road infrastructure developments, such as the R3.4 billion Mtentu River Bridge project (Eastern Cape) and the R4.3 billion tender for the overhaul of Durban’s EB Cloete Interchange.

In its initial response to Moneyweb, the agency said the tenders were cancelled “due to a material irregularity in the tender process where a resolution made by the board in January 2020 was not implemented in the evaluation of the said tenders”.

The chief executives of several construction groups were amongst those to raise concerns about the impact of the cancellations on the industry.

Ignorance

“Over the past two days several reports have appeared in the media concerning the cancellation of Sanral tenders amounting to R17.473 billion. It should immediately be obvious to any right-thinking individual that this decision would not have been taken for flimsy reasons,” Sanral said in its statement on Thursday.

“Contained in these media reports were a number of comments, some of which demonstrated ignorance about how decisions on procurement at Sanral are made.”

“Some of these comments suggest there are bidders who want to intimidate Sanral to award them tenders even where that should not be the case,” the agency added.

Commenting further on the issue, Mhambi said: “Some of these comments came from captains of industry in the construction sector who, it would seem, expect the Sanral board to disregard the violation of board resolutions and the flouting of procurement policies and procedures.”

The media briefing on Monday will also be addressed by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.