Uganda's high court last week granted an injunction suspending bidding for the project after Italian bidder Salini Costruttori said energy ministry officials favoured Chinese firm China International Water & Electric (CWE).
It is the single largest investment project in Uganda's history. But Group Five‚ which is part of a joint venture bid with France's Vinci Construction and Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries‚ says the court action will not impact its profitability.
"We're in the bid‚ but it's not in any of our estimates‚ Mike Upton‚ CEO of Group Five‚ said.
He said the proposed hydropower project was not yet in the construction phase and was still "purely a tender process".
The dam is set to be built on the river Nile‚ 264km north of the Ugandan capital Kampala‚ generating 600MW of electricity.
The court's injunction came a day after the government's procurement agency ordered the energy ministry to review the bid process in light of complaints from rival bidders to CWE and the general public about the way it was being handled.
In August‚ CWE was accused in a 100-page dossier provided to the court of having misrepresented its competencies‚ leading to calls it should be disqualified from the bid.
In November last year the government closed bidding for the project‚ beginning a six month process that concluded with the handover of the site to the winning bidder.
But by the end of March the energy ministry still had not invited bidders to an evaluation process that would lead to the eventual awarding of the contract.
Upton said Group Five was the junior partner in the joint venture‚ with a stake of 10%‚ and any commercial dealings were managed by senior partner Vinci.
He also said the group's stake in the project had to be seen in the context of the value of the construction portion of the project‚ which was likely to be about 30% of the total reported cost.
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
