Maravi

Rehabilitation of Zimba-L/stone road to be delayed

Rehabilitation of Zimba-L/stone road to be delayed
By Mwala Kalaluka
Wednesday September 12, 2007 [04:00]

ROAD Development Agency (RDA) acting director Erasmus Chilundika yesterday said the rehabilitation of the Zimba-Livingstone Road will be delayed due to problems in the procurement process. Briefing the press, Chilundika said the European Union funded rehabilitation of the 72-kilometre Zimba-Livingstone Road was scheduled to commence this month but that the process had been delayed.

He said the four companies that bid for the over 20 million Euros funded project were found to be non-responsive to the selection criteria that was seriously scrutinised by a panel from the RDA and observers from the European Commission in Zambia, finance ministry and the National Authorising Office of the European Development Fund.

“The tender for the rehabilitation of the Zimba-Livingstone Road was advertised as an open tender on January 30, 2007 in the local print media and the European Union website and closed on May 4, 2007.

The bids were opened on the same day at the Zambia National Tender Board in the presence of the bidders who chose to attend,” he said. “Four bids were received at the close of the tender from both international and local firms.”

Chilundika said only one South African company applied for the tender as most firms from that country were engaged in construction works ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
Among the local companies that failed to meet the administration requirements on the road tender was Sable Contractors and Raubex.

“The tenders were unsuccessful as contractors failed to meet the administrative and technical compliance,” he said. “According to the European Development Fund tender procedures and those of the Zambia National Tender Board, the tender had to be cancelled because it was unsuccessful and fresh tender called.”

He said the bids failed because the contractors submitted wrong bid bonds and the inclusion of personnel from non-African, Caribbean countries.

“In addition the bids received were generally very high. The lowest bid was K118.58 billion and the highest bid came in at K154.4 million,” Chilundika said.

“The tender for the rehabilitation of the Zimba-Livingstone Road will therefore be readvertised by the end of 2007 after a review of the project has been completed. It is expected that the road works should start after the rainy season.”

And Chilundika said RDA was not careless by allowing the company engaged by Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) to transport its 140 tonnes cool box into the country.
He said the transporter would have to pay for the costs for any damage that would be noticed within 60 days after the passage of the cool box.

Last week, a South African company, Vanguard, transported a 50 metres long cool box to Chingola. Vanguard has since paid US$35,000 for any possible damage that would be caused to the roads and bridges where the truck passed.

Labels: RDA, ROAD DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, ROADS

posted by MrK @ 3:18 AM