South Africa: Roads Agency Seeking $51 Million From Builders

South Africa’s state-owned road agency is seeking as much as $51 million in civil damages from construction companies for colluding over contracts related to improving the country’s highways.

The South African National Roads Agency SOC lodged the claims against seven builders in the High Court in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province, the organization known as Sanral said, without naming the companies. The claims are for between 600 million rand and 760 million rand, the agency said in an e-mailed statement on Monday.

The court filing comes almost a year after Sanral said it planned to sue builders following an investigation by South Africa’s antitrust body in 2013. The Competition Commission fined 15 construction companies including Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd. and Aveng Ltd. a combined 1.46 billion rand for collusion over contracts including those to build stadiums for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.

“This follows months of hard work in quantifying the damages we suffered,” Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona said in the statement. “We had to be thorough in our assessment of the damages and were not going to be rushed into this action ill-prepared.”

Full Content: Bloomerg

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