Contractors dispute toilet tenders

DISSATISFACTION amongst small contractors keen to have a slice of the N$20 million sanitation project in the Oshana Region has again surfaced after the construction and materials supplier tenders were allocated recently.

Some tenderers are claiming that Kambwa Trading is being favoured as it has been allocated the bulk of the material supply tender.The sanitation project which involves the construction of 1 300 toilets in the ten constituencies of Oshana Region has been delayed since 2008. The Oshana Regional Council has opted to build the Eco-San Toilets which are different from pit latrines that other regions such as Omusati have constructed in rural areas. The sanitation project has been broken down into two phases, where the tenders were called for the supplier of Eco-San Toilet Units, while contractors would do the actual installation of the Eco-San compartment and the construction of concrete walls for the toilet huts. The latter was allocated to small contractors residing in the respective constituencies.These small contractors are now alleging that the biggest chunk of the budget was allocated to material suppliers while they were told to construct the toilets at a cost of N$6 113 per toilet.’A person is given 20 toilets to construct with N$90 000, what is that? We have never seen an institution that is giving work prescribing the amount that that the contractor have to use. We thought it is the other way around,’ one contractor complained to The Namibian.The small tenderers had several meetings with the Regional Council where they registered their dissatisfaction. They further complained that the tender for the supply of Eco-San units should have been divided equally amongst the successful bidders.A press statement from the Acting Chief Regional Officer Josephat Sinvula said that the tenders for the supply of Eco-San Toilet Units were given to four local companies namely; Kambwa Trading (600 units); Pandu Investments (400 units); Ompadhi Construction (150 units) and John Katau Construction (150 units).Sinvula said that John Katau Construction informed the Oshana Regional Council that it was not in position to deliver. The 150 units were subsequently given to Pandu Investements. Ompadhi Construction was struggling with the delivery and asked for extension according to Sinvula.Sinvula did not indicate whether the 150 units allocated to Ompadhi were re-awarded to other tenderers. Sinvula could not be reached for comment yesterday.’To enable potential local contractors residing in the 10 constituencies to benefit from the N$6 113 per toilet unit, each contractor will construct an average of 20 toilet units. Sixty six local contractors will be contracted to build 1 300 toilets in the region,’ Sinvula said.’If you take the explanation above, Oshana regional Council has exhibited transparency and good governance with the manner the tender for sanitation has been handled both during the first phase and the second phase,’ Sinvula said.