gautrain contract is R25.5bn
6 November 2007

Minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe, has disclosed that the price of the Gautrain project will be R25.5-billion. Giving a written answer to a question in the National Assembly on Tuesday, the minister said that this is a fixed price, but that cost of living increases estimated by the Reserve Bank at 4.5 percent are built into the contract.

"Apart from the CPIX adjustments, there have been no increases to the above agreed fixed price since financial close in January 2007," Radebe told Stuart Farrow, of the Democratic Alliance

"The final price is a total price for everything included in the concession agreement, including risk and integration costs, and there is no breakdown of costs for individual elements as in a traditional type contract with a list of quantities and related prices."

Farrow also asked whether the reduction in the number of buses, as was set out in the original bid to convey Gautrain passengers to and from the station, had any impact on the cost of the project.  The minister said, that Bombela, the winning contractor, did propose a reduction in the number of buses with an increase in the number of parking spaces at certain stations.

But he added: "It is not possible to provide separate costs".

I-Net Bridge, Michael Hamlyn, www.business.iafrica.com