JSE-listed GijimaAst has won a deal to implement the ICT infrastructure for Gauteng's open road tolling (ORT) system, just two months after home affairs cancelled the company's 'Who Am I' contract.
The tolling system forms part of the South African Roads Agency's (Sanral's) Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP). The system will charge motorists using Gauteng's highways through an automated method and is set to launch next year.
GijimaAst has not disclosed the value of the deal, as it has signed a confidentiality agreement.
In April, it lost the controversial 'Who Am I' contract, after home affairs cancelled it. The matter is currently en route to the courts, as GijimaAst wants a judge to enforce the R4 billion deal.
Tolls collected through the GFIP are expected to inject about R29 billion into the economy and create about 30 000 jobs.
All the ICT
GijimaAst's programme director for Sanral, Guillaume Snyders, says the company will supply all the ICT infrastructure products and services required for the ORT solution. This includes the delivery and installation of hardware, commercial-off-the-shelf software and desktop support services, and the design and implementation of the support network solution.
The ORT system consists of four components, which include the roadside system, ORT back-office, transaction clearing house and the violation processing centre, as well as a number of customer service centres. Oracle software and database administration services will also be supplied directly by GijimaAst.
“We will also facilitate the call desk services for the ICT infrastructure of the ORT system during the operations phase, as well as hosting services, which include data security, disaster recovery and operations services,” Snyders says.
CEO Jonas Bogoshi says GijimaAst will provide the backbone that links the cameras to a data centre, storage and collection of the data, as well as a billing engine.
GijimaAst won the deal after bidding as a sub-contractor to the Electronic Toll Collection consortium for the ICT aspects of the open road tolling system. The consortium will deliver the open road tolling solution, and GijimaAst will provide the ICT implementation.
Snyders says the “awarding of the tender to GijimaAst is a big win for us. We see this as a strategic partnership with the Electronic Toll Collection consortium to deliver premium services to Sanral”.
Share