Builders to sacrifice Xmas hols

Johannesburg - Tight deadlines for 2010-related projects look set to delay the traditional builders holiday, which in 2009 is set to kick off around December 12, construction firms polled by Fin24.com confirmed on Monday.

There are less than 200 days to go before the start of the soccer extravaganza and with the official draw due to take place on Friday, the end game of all the building activity is now becoming a reality.

Francois Diedrechsen, financial director of Raubex, said the road construction firm is adding two extra weeks to its schedule.

This was to meet the deadline for the R21 highway project for Sanral, which will see improvements on the national route from Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg to Pretoria, north of the Johannesburg city centre.

"Instead of closing on December 12, we're closing on December 20," Diedrechsen said. "We'll open again on the fifth of January 2010," he added.

Murray & Roberts spokesperson, Ed Jardim, said work on projects that were on "serious" deadline, such as the Gautrain, would probably continue.

Group Five confirmed in a letter it would have a number of sites working until December 18 whereas it would normally close on December 11. "The longest [additional time stayed on site] would be a week in Kwa-Zulu Natal," it said.

CEO Mike Upton said it's not unusual for construction companies to have sites operating beyond the builders holiday to "catch up or keep ahead" of the programme. Work continued would be a mixture of 2010 contracts and non-2010 related projects, he said.

Basil Read Executive Director, Eugene du Toit, also said there will be some work going beyond December 11, but it would be "very selective".

An analyst said construction companies would historically sometimes stayed on site if there were tight deadlines. "There would've been instances".

- Fin24.com