February 23, 2005
By Lucille Davie
THE Gauteng provincial government will announce the final bidder for the Gautrain at the end of April and construction is expected to start by the end of October.
Premier Mbhazima Shilowa in his opening of the legislature speech on Monday, 21 February, announced that the two best and final offers for the Gautrain were received on 26 January, and said these would now be thoroughly examined.
"We are evaluating these and expect to be in a position to announce the preferred bidder by the end of April this year," he said.
The 80km Gautrain will link Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Johannesburg International Airport. It will cruise at a speed of 160km/h and will operate for 18 hours a day. The train is intended to ease congestion caused by more than 300 000 cars a day travelling between the province's two principal cities.
There will be three criteria for final selection:
- The price of construction of the Gautrain. The original price was put at R7-billion but, says Barbara Jensen, public relations consultant for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, the province would prefer at this stage not to comment on what the final cost may be.
- The technical solutions offered by the bidder. This refers to, among other things, the rolling stock, the tunnels and their construction, the link-ups with Eskom, and the safety and security of passengers.
- The socio-economic development, including issues such as black economic empowerment, the use of SMMEs, and corporate social responsibility programmes.
Shilowa stressed that an essential condition of the successful bid was that the Gautrain be complete for the Soccer World Cup in 2010.
The final bidders, chosen from ten submissions, are Bombela Consortium and Gauliwe Consortium. Both consist of international and local railway construction and engineering companies.
Shilowa said that the World Cup Local Organising Committee was fully behind the Gautrain project. Danny Jordaan, the chief executive officer, said, "We cannot have a successful World Cup without an efficient transport system, particularly in the Johannesburg-Midrand-Pretoria area, which will be the hub of the World Cup. A successful World Cup is dependent on the Gautrain as the Johannesburg International Airport is the entry point for visitors and Gautrain will make a huge contribution to the efficient moving of people in 2010."
Jordaan described the Gautrain as "the nerve of the nerve centre" in its role of making the soccer tournament successful.
Shilowa emphasised that the Gautrain was part of "an integrated and sustainable transport system [that] is critical to Gauteng's success as a global city region". He said that by November this year the key pillars of a speedy and cost-effective transport system would have been put in place. This would include a review of the current road network; the development of an affordable and reliable public transport system; a review of the current public transport subsidy system; and the introduction of "intelligent transport systems" that would co-ordinate and align the various modes of transport in the province.
The Gautrain process started in 2000 when Shilowa announced the proposal, and the train took on the nickname of the Shilowa Express. An extensive public consultation process has taken place since then, based on the Environmental Impact Assessment study.
A potential obstacle is posed by the residents' association of the suburb of Muckleneuk in Pretoria. The residents want tunnelling through the suburb instead of surface lines, and they have taken the issue to court, but Jensen says whatever the outcome, it will not delay construction.
The route starts at Park Station in the Joburg CBD and runs through Rosebank, Sandton and Marlboro, from where a line goes east to the airport. It then moves north to Midrand and Centurion, and finally, to the Pretoria Station, from where it will link to other rail services.
The Gautrain will take about 15 minutes to reach the airport from Sandton and about 40 minutes to travel between Johannesburg and Pretoria. There will be four underground stations and eight surface stations, and about 14km of underground track - in some places 80m down.
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