Bombela Concession Company has welcomed the signing of the concession agreement with the Gauteng Provincial Government for implementation of Gautrain saying it is ready to commence with construction.

Says Bombela Concession Company, CEO Denis Bouvette: “The signing of the agreement is highly significant and a major milestone for us. Our first objective is to build a world class high speed railway system for Gauteng. We have 54 months to achieve this objective and we can now surge ahead with construction. The second aspect of the contract involves the operation and maintenance of the system for 15 years.”

Bombela, which will play a management and integration role over the entire span of the project, has signed a contract with the Turnkey Contractor (commonly known as TKC), which will be responsible for managing the effective delivery of the major civil infrastructure as well as the electro-mechanical infrastructure. TKC, a specialist integration management company, has entered into two subcontracts – one with a Civil Joint Venture and the other with an Electro-Mechanical (E&M) joint venture.

“TKC will ensure that the works are performed according to specifications and they are fully integrated. Our partner and client, the Gauteng Province, has bought a total solution from us – they want a system that works safely and efficiently as a whole.

During the operation and maintenance phase, a second contract will come into effect which is with an Operations and Management Joint Venture.

Bouvette is confident of success saying: “This is a world class project. On the one side of the private-public partnership we have the bold and visionary Gauteng Provincial Government and on other, the Bombela Concession Company, a fine mix of global and international players.

“Our international stakeholders are Bombardier, the world leader in the aerospace and rail transportation sector and Bouygues, a global leader in the construction sector with exceptional expertise in the construction of tunnels. Our local stakeholders are the JSE listed Murray & Roberts, one of South Africa’s leading engineering and construction contracting groups, and the Strategic Partners Group (SPG), a broad-based consortium of black companies in the South African civil construction and engineering sectors.

“On the ground we have some of the finest international and local talent and team managers who have the ability to think big and bring this project to life, within scope, schedule and cost for the benefit of the provincial government and all our stakeholders, especially the people of South Africa.”

Furthermore, in keeping with the province’s Socio Economic Development vision, it has developed a high-level implementation plan. Broadly speaking, the mission is to contribute to the development of a sustainable second economy which will contribute substantially to the development of Black Empowerment entities, Black persons, SMME’s, local people and the promotion of skills development among women in particular.

Mr Bouvette also thanked the three Metros for partnership in facilitating the processes to ensure that the project is on track. Such strong partnership makes us confident that - “together we’ll make Gauteng proud”.

He concluded by applauding the residents within these Metro’s who have accepted that the project is of national importance and therefore has to go on. This is irrespective of the inconveniences that the project is going to bring in their lives which include road closures, road diversion, and possible utilities interruptions. He assured the residents that Bombela will endeavour to minimise the impact of such inconveniences in the best possible way we can.

Issued by Bombela Concession Company

Contact: Yolisa Tyantsi (Communications Director)
Cell no : 082 389 2443
e-mail: yolisa.tyantsi@bombela.com