Artwell Dlamini
30 April 2009
Johannesburg — IN A boost for SA's transport system ahead of the Soccer World Cup 2010, the government yesterday named two preferred bidders for the R1,4bn tender to supply 570 buses for the tournament, which kicks off in June next year.
The bidders are MAN and Mercedes-Benz SA.
"I am also delighted to announce that government is putting a guarantee of R1,4bn for the purpose of acquiring the 570 buses," said Transport Minister Jeff Radebe in an announcement that surprised even a winning bidder.
"We haven't heard anything directly from the national Department of Transport as yet, but I am sure that this will follow soon," said Ray Karshagen, a board member of MAN .
Department of Transport spokesman Collen Msibi said "we must still negotiate" the final terms for the supply contracts.
"We are working on it. We do not expect it to take long."
For MAN, which is to supply 110 buses, the announcement was a "pleasant surprise" for the German group, Karshagen said.
Mercedes-Benz SA, which is to supply 460 of the buses, said it was "ecstatic" about the outcome of the tender, which was put out in May last year.
On readiness to deliver on its commitment, Jan Aichinger, divisional manager for Mercedes-Benz SA's bus unit, said the company had invested R13m in its bus manufacturing line at its East London plant in anticipation of demand for buses.
"This investment complements the previous investment of R2bn that was made last year in the East London plant.
"We are confident that we will deliver the same quality and safety standards in product and afterservice as that of our global company," Aichinger said.
Karshagen expressed confidence that MAN would be able to deliver its buses on time. He said his company could build 60 buses a month.
In terms of its production lead time, it took three to four months to receive the chassis CKD (crated, knocked down) kits from its parent company in Germany -- which would be assembled locally -- and to procure materials from its local suppliers, Karshagen said. He said it was good that these buses would be built in SA. This, he noted, would create job opportunities as it took about 1000 man hours to build a single bus body.
Mercedes-Benz SA would supply 168 semiluxury and 292 intercity buses while MAN would deliver 110 general spectator buses.
The department short-listed three bidders on December 4 in the bidding process.
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