Its the end of the year in South Africa, and everyone is about ready to head home for the holidays. The holidays down here is quite different to the Northern countries. For one, its the middle of Summer, so for Christmas and New Year, most people go to the beach. It can get a bit crazy – I can’t wait to get home to my sunny, seaside home town of Durban!
The past few weeks have been interesting – we signed both our design and engineering consultants and our bulk earthworks contractor. I got to experience the tender (bidding) process first hand and did the technical adjudication for both contracts. The really sticky part isn’t the engineering though, its the legal stuff! What a nightmare! After a lengthily process of post-tender clarification meetings where we grilled the top bidders and queried their submissions, we finally selected two great companies. Last Thursday, the tender committee approved the bidders and placed the orders!
It was months of work that finally all came together! I am so happy you would not believe! My division is officially closed, but I am hanging around for a few days to iron out some contractual issues and hand over all the information the design engineers need to get started with the work. I’m really excited to work with them! (and also quite excited about the fact that their offices are in Melrose Arch – the most prestigious office park/ mall in Johannesburg – and now I get free parking!!!).
More from me soon!
