NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 542
DATE REPLY SUBMITTED: MONDAY, 28 MARCH 2011
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 3 â 2011)
Mr P D Mbhele (Cope) asked the Minister of Transport:
(a) What are the relevant details of the consortium that operates the
125 feeder buses as part of the Gautrain system, (b) who are the
parties that represent the consortium and (c) what criteria were used
in selecting these parties? NW589E
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REPLY:
The Minister of Transport:
(a)
The Bombela Concession Company was appointed to design, construct and
operate the Gautrain System, which includes the operation of the
Gautrain Feeder and Distribution Bus Service. In their accepted
proposal (tender), Bombela indicated that Unitrans will be sub-
contracted to provide the Gautrain bus service. After conclusion of
the concession agreement, Unitrans Passenger (Pty) Ltd was contracted
by Bombela for the bus service and it is being operated by their
subsidiary company, Mega Express (Pty) Ltd.
(b)
The shareholders in the Bombela Concession Company are Murray &
Roberts, Bouygues, Bombardier, SPG, ABSA and J&J. In terms of the
Concession Agreement, Bombela was required to further sub-contract a
portion of the Gautrain Feeder and Distribution Bus Service to local
BEE public transport operators. This obligation was devolved to
Unitrans as part of their sub-contracting agreement with Bombela.
Unitrans conducted an open tender process in order to provide local
BEE operators with the opportunity to apply for 35% shareholding in
the Gautrain bus service. The result of the tender process was that
Special Services Group and Gauteng Coaches jointly hold 35% of the
shares.
(c)
A very comprehensive list of criteria (technical, financial, legal and
socio-economic development) was used to evaluate the proposals of the
pre-qualified bidders, which led to the selection of Bombela as the
preferred bidder and the eventual signing of the Concession Agreement.
The criteria used by Unitrans in the tender process for the allocation
of the 35% shareholding in the Gautrain bus service included BEE
status, local geographical presence and experience in the operation of
road-based public transport services.