New Finance building behind schedule

CONSTRUCTION on the new Ministry of Finance office building has suffered a serious delay due to substandard building materials.

Concrete used by the Chinese contractor New Era for an already installed ground slab proved to be unusable following tests conducted by an independent and accredited concrete testing facility in South Africa. The tests showed that approximately a quarter of the slab was ‘substantially below acceptable standards’, according to the project’s principal agent, Klaus Brandt.However, Brandt said that the fault did not lie with New Era but rather with the concrete suppliers, BCI, a subsidiary of the Roads Contractor Company Limited (RCC), a Namibian Government-owned company. Brandt’s firm initiated the full testing of the concrete following their own core drill tests that raised suspicions. Those suspicions were later confirmed and the concrete was shown to be nowhere near the required strength. New Era has been instructed to dismantle the slab, a lengthy process that will take two months, and replace it. The project has already suffered delays resulting from flooding and steel shortages and Brandt stated that it was unlikely that a further extension of the project deadline would be allowed and that New Era would need to hasten their progress if they were to make the deadline of November 2013. If the deadline is not met New Era will face strict penalties.A full investigation into the cause of the problem is underway and it is expected that if fault is officially laid at BCI’s door, New Era will be entitled to claim compensation for the additional cost of the replacement as well as any penalties arising from the delay.In the meantime construction will continue on the half of the building that is not affected.

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