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The organised construction industry has expressed serious doubt about the reasons provided by the Border Management Agency (BMA) for the extension of the date for the submission of bids for a multi-billion-rand South African border posts redevelopment project.
Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi announced in June 2022 that his department would “in a few months’ time” issue a public request for proposals for a project to completely overhaul and rebuild South Africa’s six busiest border posts at a cost of more than R6 billion.
In September 2023 he announced that the request for proposals had been published for interested parties to submit bids on a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement for the redevelopment of the border posts.
Interested parties had to submit their bids by March 4, 2024.
However, the BMA reported on Monday that the date for the submission of bids to redevelop and redesign the six border posts had been extended until July 4, 2024.
It said the extension followed requests from several potential bidders to extend the deadline.
The time needed for the prospective bidders to raise funds to finance the project under the PPP arrangement; and
The long holiday period between December 2023 and January 2024, which interrupted the consultative work of the potential bidders about the project. — Moneyweb.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter