Eskom has 5 days to hand over tender papers

Johannesburg - The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Friday ruled that power utility Eskom had five days to hand over tender documents, Westinghouse Electric Company said.

This was related to the awarding of a R4bn tender to Areva NP Proprietary.

Westinghouse Electric Company said it was successful in obtaining an order to oblige the power utility to hand over the documents within five calendar days.

"This order includes the production of documents which Eskom may contend to contain confidential or commercially sensitive information and a mechanism was provided in the court order for the production of such documents," Westinghouse said in a statement.

"The production of all relevant documentation relating to the tender will place Westinghouse in a strong position to proceed with its intended course of action to review Eskom's decision."

Westinghouse initially wanted a preliminary order to prevent Eskom from finalising the contract with French company Areva NP Proprietary to replace steam generators at the Koeberg nuclear power plant, and access to documents on the decision.

However, Westinghouse said on Thursday it would only focus on the application to obtain the documentation.

Last month, Eskom's board of directors announced it had awarded the contract to Areva.

In a report on Wednesday, Westinghouse Electric SA managing director Frederik Wolvaardt said his company was the winner of the R4.2bn tender until Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown was told about the tender committee's decision.

Four different sources told Westinghouse officials the company won the bid before Brown made the announcement on August 16.

In court papers, he said Brown was misled by acting Eskom CEO Collin Matjila and chairwoman of Eskom's tender committee Neo Lesela on August 15 when they briefed her on the board's decision.

Westinghouse Electric Company is a nuclear energy company and is a supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities worldwide.

Eskom was expected to brief the media on the matter at 2.30pm in Johannesburg.

The new generators were expected to be installed in 2018.