Mr. Mark Foley:

There seems to be some confusion about this. We identified the need last year and we got the support of the CRU and the Government. We got directions and went about a selective tendering process. We picked actors we believed had the capacity to do this with great and serious urgency, I stress. Unfortunately, one actor that was not in that group decided to take legal action and injunct the proceedings. The actor in question did not have the capacity to provide a solution but chose to go to the courts in a way that was very unhelpful from a national perspective. We had two choices, which were to thrash this out in court and continue or step back and run the process again in a more traditional procurement mode. We made that decision because it would create greater certainty about ultimately getting those on the bars.

We did not decide not to do it, as some press reports have indicated, and we have been pushing this as hard as humanly possible. We are thankful we have one contract signed and another to go. We will have it on the bars next year. We live and learn. It is unfortunate that one actor put the spanner in the works.