D-Day for Neckartal

FIREWORKS are expected at today’s extraordinary Tender Board meeting, which was specially convened to discuss the controversial Neckartal Dam project that might cost the State nearly N$3 billion.

Tender Board members are divided into two camps supporting two opposing tenderers. There have been allegations of protecting private business interests instead of looking after the State’s interests, since a parastatal has teamed up with one of the tenderers.Talk in the corridors of the Tender Board is that a substantive tender award has been made already, but some permanent secretaries who attended the last meeting where the tender was discussed say only a provisional award was made.Secretary to Cabinet Frans Kapofi is said to have intervened and advised all Tender Board members to attend the meeting, when word got out that some wanted to boycott the extraordinary session.Although Kapofi is not a member of the Tender Board, The Namibian is reliably informed that he wants to attend today’s meeting.A number of permanent secretaries felt that the Neckartal Dam project was not urgent and could wait until January 13 when the Tender Board officially resumes its work. ‘I did emphasise the importance for them to meet,’ Kapofi told The Namibian, but said he was not going to attend the meeting. He said he just urged the PSes to attend, ‘so that the issues are cleared once and for all.’The Tender Board is expected to clear up confusion about two conflicting decisions made by the board on December 16 and 21. The December 16 meeting is said to have given the dam contract to a Chinese company, China Henan International Corporation, for N$1,9 billion, but that was overturned by another meeting held on December 21.Ministry of Safety and Security Permanent Secretary Samuel /Goagoseb, who chaired both meetings, said no decision was taken at the December 16 meeting and that the valid decision was made on Wednesday, December 21. This claim is disputed by some of his colleagues who attended the December 16 meeting.Today’s emergency meeting was called with specific instructions that only the board’s substantive members (permanent secretaries of government ministries and agencies) should attend and not their deputies or proxies who are alternate members. At the extraordinary meeting on December 21, a handful of permanent secretaries and many alternate members allegedly overturned the December 16 decision and awarded the contract to an Italian company with questionable credentials, Impregilo, at a cost of N$2,8 billion.The board is divided into two main factions. One group supports the recommendation of Andrew Ndishishi, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, that the tender be awarded to Impregilo, while the other group feels that Impregilo’s asking price is too high and prefers China Henan. The latter group is reportedly led by National Planning Commission Permanent Secretary Leevi Hungamo. Hungamo has denied that there is a stand-off between him and Ndishishi. ‘He was not even in the meeting when we debated the tender,’ Hungamo said, referring to the December 16 meeting, where Ndishishi was represented by his deputy, Anna Shiweda.Hungamo added that it was the duty of permanent secretaries to debate tenders during meetings and that does not mean there are factions.The Tender Board chairperson, Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary Erica Shafudah, said she would only comment after today’s meeting.Karas Governor Bernadus Swartbooi has expressed dissatisfaction at the Tender Board’s slow pace in awarding the tender. He said he would like to see construction work on the project starting by the end of this month, as the dam would boost the region’s economy, create jobs and improve the quality of life in the region. Swartbooi said he was monitoring the situation and was appalled by the corruption allegations surrounding the tender.’They must know the spectre of justice and the justified wrath of the Namibian people will haunt, harshly, those who put personal interest before country,’ he said.’We are monitoring and we can take the Tender Board on, politically and legally, should it take a decision that is not in the nation’s interest,’ he said.