DA mulls court action over nuclear project

23 April 2017 - 18:37 By Jan-Jan Joubert
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The DA is preparing to go to court to stop the nuclear new build in its tracks.

"We want to stop the current nuclear deal in its tracks‚ and we are consulting counsel on what exact legal action we will take‚" DA MP and energy spokesman Gordon Mackay said on Friday after consultation with the chairman of the DA federal executive‚ James Selfe‚ who coordinates the party's court cases against government overreach.

Earlier in the week‚ Mackay blasted the lid off Eskom's application to Treasury's acting chief procurement officer‚ Schalk Human‚ for an exemption from the prescribed procurement standard applicable to the nuclear acquisition.

Eskom's chief nuclear officer‚ Dave Nicholls‚ has since confirmed that Eskom made a presentation to Treasury regarding the waiver of certain procurement regulations regarding the nuclear deal‚ but said no formal request has been sent.

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"The presentation was the introduction to a discussion - no written request has yet been made. There will be follow-up meetings between Eskom and Treasury to discuss specific issues before any formal requests are made‚" said Nicholls.

According to Mackay‚ Human will make a recommendation on the waiver of regulations to new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba‚ who will take the final decision.

"We cannot allow a half-baked plan costing as much as a trillion rand to go through. Regulations exist‚ and they must be followed.

"It is also hugely worrying that no effective checks and balances seem to be in place against a damaging decision by Minister Gigaba‚" said Mackay.

  • Cape Town's bid to buy electricity directly from Independent Power ProducersThe City of Cape Town is forging ahead with plans to purchase electricity directly from Independent Power Producers even if it means taking government to court. 

The DA is strongly opposed to the nuclear deal and will continue to pursue all avenues to scrutinise every process involved and to ultimately put a stop to a deal that will enslave future generations of South Africans‚" he said.

Nicholls said that the issues that were raised and leaked regarding a possible waiver were contained in a presentation Eskom made to Treasury.

"I am not prepared to share the content with you - not because there is anything specifically secret about it but because I have not carefully considered it‚" said Nicholls.

At the moment‚ the requested waiver concerns: * Proposed evaluation criteria; * The extension of the bid validity from 12 weeks to 2 years; * The requirement for self-designation; * Changes in budget and funding to align the process with the cabinet's end of year statement and * Eskom not wanting to do a renewed feasibility study - it wants the one already done to stand.

Nicholls said those were the only issues Eskom has flagged so far‚ but it cannot be guaranteed to be a final list.

  • Misgivings in ANC on nuclear plansThe ANC says the government must rethink its costly and contentious nuclear power expansion programme in light of the country's junk credit ratings. 

He believes confidentiality regarding planning aspects of the nuclear new build to be necessary for commercial reasons - to share strategy too early could drive up the price to be footed by the taxpayer.

Regarding the feasibility study‚ he believes it to be a parallel process to the country's new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)‚ which will decide the national energy source mix‚ but is yet to be gazetted.

"The IRP energy mix cannot be finalised without knowing the cost of nuclear - it can be an input into the IRP - so it needs not pre-date the feasibility study.

"The exact extent of nuclear can be changed as the IRP demands‚ but the feasibility study is not dependent on the IRP‚” said Nicholls.

He expects the request for proposals to potential nuclear new build vendors to be done by the end of June‚ then for roleplayers internally to decide on a preferred vendor by the end of 2017. Nicholls said cabinet would then gazette the preferred vendor by March 2018 and for the contracts to be signed by March 2019.

-TMG Digital/TimesLIVE

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