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Cape Town - Power Construction and its subsidiary Power Construction (Western Cape) were unsuccessful in their bid to have a collusive tendering complaint withdrawn.
The complaint was filed by the Competition Commission with the Competition Tribunal in December 2014 and involved a Sanral maintenance project.
The contract was for periodic maintenance of the N1 from Touws River to Laingsburg and was awarded to Haw & Inglis in July 2006.
The Competition Tribunal said that The Haw and Inglis attended a briefing in April 2006 and came to the conclusion that it was the only viable bidder for the project.
However, since it was concerned that the tender would be cancelled, it asked Power Construction (Western Cape) to submit a bid for the tender, which Power Construction (Western Cape) then did.
"Power Construction admitted to this contravention and others by Power Construction (Western Cape) when it took part in the fast track settlement process, an initiative by the Competition Commission launched in February 2011," the Competition Tribunal said.
The Commission invited companies from the construction sector to come forward and declare any contraventions of the Competition Act.
"The Tribunal in a judgment released on Thursday, 1 September, dismissed arguments that Power Construction (Western Cape) was not directly named in the original complaint initiation, that Power Constructions could not be held accountable for the actions of a subsidiary it bought after the contravention and that the prohibited conduct had occurred more than three years before the Commission initiated its complaint."
With regards to the prohibition finding, the Tribunal said the practices “could only be said to cease when the effects have ceased”.
Since the last payment to winning bidder Haw and Inglis took place in February 2009, it was held that the complaint against Power Construction (Western Cape) had not prescribed.
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