Gautrain within budget - CEO
Tue, 25 Mar 2008Gautrain management on Thursday rejected suggestions that the project's costs will rise to R35-billion.
The project was well within budget, Gautrain Management Agency CEO Jack van der Merwe said.
He was reacting to statements made by National Assembly transport committee Chairperson Jeremy Cronin during a debate in the House on Tuesday.
"Yes, the construction of the Gautrain system is now well under way and I have no intention of waging a rearguard struggle against it. I wish it well, and the best of luck — it will need it," Cronin said.
"But are there not lessons, at least, that we need to learn retrospectively for the future?
"In the first place, if my information and understanding is right, quietly and below the radar screen, its construction costs are now escalating towards the R35-billion mark — up from the already exorbitant R20-billion that we were told, hand on heart, here in parliament, just a few years ago, was the written-in-stone absolute upper limit," he said.
However, Van der Merwe repeated on Thursday that the total cost of R25.2-billion for Gautrain's public/private partnership contract, as approved by National Treasury on 6 September 2006, "is a fixed price, fixed scope and fixed period contract".
This price could rise only if CPIX inflation increased above the level as predicted by the SA Reserve Bank, or if a claim was made by the Gautrain concession company, Bombela, if they deemed the Gauteng province to be in breech of contract as per the concession agreement, or the province decided to extend the route and/or build more stations.
"None of the above has happened and at this point in time, the project is within budget and there are no indications that the cost will escalate to R35-billion as stated by Cronin," Van der Merwe said.
