Eskom grants DA access to Medupi contracts

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be given full access by Eskom to documents relating to agreements with contractors over construction of the Medupi power station, the opposition party said on Monday.

"The DA has received confirmation from Eskom that it is in the process of compiling all the contractual agreements with contractors at the Medupi Power Plant," DA MP Natasha Michael said in a statement.

The DA had submitted an application to Eskom under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

"According to Eskom, the contractors have been notified in terms of section 47 of PAIA, of the need to make information or records available," Michael said.

It was important that all Medupi contracts be made public so they could be scrutinised.

"The agreements between contractors and Eskom must be scrutinised to determine whether any strict controls were put in place to ensure that parties meet their deadlines and targets and what action can be taken against the contractors for failure to do so," Michael said.

MPs visited Medupi in July and learnt that the reason for the delay in completing the first phase of the project was as a result of a sub-contractor connected to Hitachi Power Africa.

At the time, Michael said Hitachi officials had told MPs the sub-contractor had misled both Eskom and Hitachi into believing quality control tests on the boilers had been conducted.

Chancellor House, the investment arm of the ruling African National Congress, has a 25 percent stake in Hitachi, which has been awarded the boilers tender for Medupi.

The first unit of Medupi was meant to come online in December.

The date has since been pushed back at least six months as a result of the delays.