Maravi

Govt demotes Met-Weld over KK's house

Govt demotes Met-Weld over KK's house
By Staff Reporter
Monday June 02, 2008 [04:01]

GOVERNMENT has demoted Met-Weld Limited on the construction categorisation ladder following the company's failure to complete former president Dr Kenneth Kaunda's retirement home within the contract period. Sources last Friday said that the relegation entailed that the company would not be able to tender for major projects.

"They have been demoted to the lowest class," the source said. "They have been demoted to class six from class two; so he cannot do any big jobs. The government was considering to blacklist him but they thought that would have been very vicious."

The construction costs of Dr Kaunda's retirement house have shot up from about K4 billion to around K6 billion following delays to complete the structure situated in Lusaka's State Lodge area.

The government gave the contractor up to April 20 this year to complete the project or face the possibility of having liquidated damage charges slapped on the company.

Ministry of Works and Supply Permanent Secretary Lieutenant Colonel Bizwayo Nkunika declined to comment or confirm the demotion of the contractor on the construction strata.

However, he said Dr Kaunda's retirement home was substantially finished.
"We are just furnishing it," Lt Col Nkunika said. "As soon as we have put the furniture, then someone will handover the house to him."

And Lt Col Nkunika said the projects being undertaken by the 42 excluded contractors being investigated over shoddy works would go on despite the probe.

"That is why Chembe Bridge is still going on despite China Henan being investigated," he said.

Lt Col Nkunika further said the works and supply ministry had been granted permission to recruit qualified people to supervise construction projects in all the ministries whose scope of work did not extend to construction.

The government recently decided to revert the supervision of construction projects in all the ministries to the ambit of the Ministry of Works and Supply's Buildings Department in order to have proper checks and balances.

"The other ministries like the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Education are now cooperating and are working through the Buildings Department," he said. "We have desk officers within the department who are overseeing the construction projects in all these ministries, including the Ministry of Defence."

Lt Col Nkunika said more engineers and architects would be co-opted in the Buildings Department to coordinate construction works in the provinces, which he said lacked human resource in the above fields.

Labels: CONSTRUCTION, CONTRACTORS

posted by MrK @ 5:27 PM