Murray & Roberts (M&R) has confirmed that it is a co-applicant with GE in a court bid to prevent Eskom from implementing a contract with Dongfang Electric Corporation for the Duvha Unit 3 boiler recovery project.
The 600-MW boiler was damaged catastrophically in March 2014 as a result of over pressurisation of the boiler furnace, which triggered an explosion that resulted in the entire unit being shut down.
Business Day reported on Wednesday that GE had approached the High Court in Johannesburg to interdict Eskom from implementing Dongfang’s contract until it had been reviewed and adjudicated again.
In an affidavit deposed by GE head of sub-Saharan AfricaGeorge Njenga, the US multinational alleged that Eskom had violated the terms of its own request for proposal (RFP), which outlined a two-stage adjudication involving a desktop evaluation to arrive at the “top two suppliers”, followed by direct negotiations with the suppliers for final selection.
Njenga said GE and M&R were the only shortlisted suppliers when final offers were submitted on March 3 and Dongfang was not on the shortlist. Eskom nevertheless awarded the tender “unlawfully” to the Chinese firm.
M&R also confirmed with Engineering News Online that it was applying to have Dongfang interdicted from taking any steps towards the execution of any contract.
The State-owned utility is opposing the application.
