The delay and disruption claim the Bombela consortium filed against the Gauteng govern- ment regarding the construction of the Gautrain “is taking a long time”, and will only be resolved by 2016, says Murray & Roberts CE Henry Laas.

Last August, the construction and engineering group expected a resolution, through arbitration, by December 2014.

Murray & Roberts is a member of the Bombela consortium, which built, and is now operating, the R26.4-billion Gautrain rapid rail system on the provincial government’s behalf.

Bombela claims it experienced delays and disruption in construction work on the public–private partnership project. The consortium says one of the issues was, for example, that the land on which construction had to take place was not provided by the province as scheduled.

The claim is regarded as a megaclaim by Murray & Roberts, valued at billions of rands, and not millions.

The Gautrain water ingress claim – a separate arbitration matter from the delay and disruption claim – should be resolved in November, notes Laas.

This case relates to the volume of water ingress in the tunnel between Rosebank and Park stations, which delayed the opening of this leg of the route from August 2011 to June 2012.

A ruling had been made in Bombela’s favour on the Sandton cavern case, adds Laas.

He says the underground Sandton station is originally to be a cut-and-cover operation – a process whereby the site would be excavated, the station built, and then covered. However, construction was forced to shift to what Murray & Roberts believes was a more expensive underground construction method.

Laas says the ruling on this matter was made in favour of Bombela, but that the quantum of the claim has still to be determined.

Another major project where Murray & Roberts had to turn to arbitration was the Gorgon Pioneer material offloading facility, in Australia, where the com- pany recorded a R1.2-billion loss in the 2012 financial year.

Laas expects the process to be resolved in the 2015 financial year. The same timeframe is expected on disputes relating to the Dubai International Airport project.