A company has accused the Karibib Town Council of failing to pay more than N$300 000 for excavation work carried out for the local authority last year.
The company, Mwisha Investment, claims the council owes it N$99 480 from an initial excavation contract worth N$315 000, as well as an additional N$275 000 for extra work allegedly commissioned during the project.
The company was contracted to excavate hard rock at Usab informal settlement for the construction of sewer infrastructure at Karibib over a three-month period.
Company owner Jackie Gaseb says although the agreed upon amount was N$315 000, the company only received N$216 000.
He says the remaining amount was withheld as “retention money”, despite there being no such provision in the contract.
Gaseb says additional work assigned to the company after the project had already started, that was later requantified on site by Tweya Consultant Engineering, was also not paid for.
The extra work included levelling trenches abandoned by a previous contractor and deepening manholes, he says.
“This job was not paid.
The previous chief executive told me to talk to the engineers. They also didn’t pay me the whole project amount, citing retention money,” he says.
“Consultants and engineers were introduced who issued additional instructions that were not part of the original scope of work,” he says.
Gaseb says had the requirements been included in the initial bidding documents, the pricing would have been adjusted accordingly, as rates for sewer-related works vary depending on the scope and technical requirements.
He says efforts to recover the outstanding payments have failed, with both the council and engineers allegedly referring him to each other.
“I asked the engineers, but they sent me to the council.
The council sent me back to the engineers too. But my contract was with the council, not the engineer,” he says.
Gaseb says he wrote four letters, which The Namibian has seen, to the council demanding payment, including letters from the company’s lawyer, but received no response.
Karibib Town Council chief executive Tangeni Enkono on Friday said he was not aware of the matter.
Management committee chairperson Tienus Bamm says he too is unaware of the issue.
Company operator Petrus Shikongo has confirmed that Mwisha Investment carried out excavation work for the town and had not received full payment. He did not elaborate further.
Former Karibib chief executive Emely Tjombumbi, who held that position at the time the excavation work was done, says she cannot comment on behalf of the council as she no longer works there.
