Chinese Contractor Wins Historic Shs222bn NSSF Towers Project
By Our Reporter:
China
Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has beaten two other
Chinese companies to the lucrative multi-billion tender to complete the
long awaited Pension Towers.
CCECC who tendered to construct the
intelligent building at Shs222.3 billion, beat China
National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation (CATIC)
and Sino-Hydro Corporation hands down to the mega-deal- the biggest in
the commercial real
estate sector.
According to a best
evaluated bidder notice, pinned on the NSSF Notice board, the other
two firms failed on various aspects of work methods and proposed
staff qualifications.
20 companies fromUganda, Kenya, Switzerland,
South Africa and China were in the race for the big-ticket project, but
only three Chinese companies were picked for the final phase.
Roko
Construction that constructed the first phase of the project and
the name behind a number of big-ticket projects in Kampala did not make
it to the final round.
Tight Race
According to reliable
information obtained by The Red Pepper, even though CCECC price
of Shs222.3 billion was slightly higher than that of the other two
competitors, CCECC who has a rich construction experience on the African
continent emerged victorious because “their bid showed that they knew
what they were doing.”
The source intimated to us that in a
probable haste to cut down costs, the other two bidders had opted to use
less qualified people and rudimentary work methods and in some case
proposing unrealistically low timelines.
For example
CATIC proposed to use grade 25 reinforced concrete instead of the
required grade 35 reinforced concrete. The company also proposed to use
rudimentary means of mixing and transporting concrete such as wheel
barrows and buckets, instead of
the required mixer trucks and cranes.
SinoHydro Corporation
on the other hand failed on work methodology. For example, the
firm proposed to do curtain walling before the completion of the main
concrete frame on which the curtain walling sits. The firm also proposed
to fix electrical installation after completion of structural works yet
the two are supposed to be carried out concurrently.
Record breaking
Construction
of the first phase of Pension Towers which involved construction of
four basement levels and some elements of ground and mezzanine floors,
started in April 2008 and was completed in January 2012, This
phase cost Shs42.5 billion.
Once complete, Pension Towers will be
an ultra-modern ‘intelligent’ tri-tower complex. The Central tower
comprises of 25 floors while the other two side towers are each ten
storeys.
The three towers sit on four basement Floors, one ground
floor, one mezzanine floor and one podium floor, making a total of 32
Floors for the taller tower and 17 floors for the short towers,
ultimately making the building the biggest and tallest in Kampala.
The
building whose surface area is 75,000 m² has 20,000 m2 of net office
area. Net parking area is 10,000 square metres and can accommodate up to
500 cars.
The building is said to be bigger than Workers House, Communications House and Crested Towers combined.
Once
completed, the building which has been redesigned twice, will have
costs Shs264.8 billion shillings, again making it the most
expensive and biggest building structure in modern times.
The
building whose cost was originally Shs36 billion had its price
increased to Shs120 billion by the NSSF board in 2008. Following
NSSF’s
acquisition of an adjacent plot on Nakasero Road, the project was
again redesigned to include the newly acquired plot, pushing the cost to
the current Shs264.8 billion.
At an earlier press conference to
reveal the new design, Richard Byarugaba, NSSF Managing defended the new
design as being commercially viable.
“The current redesign will
enable us to optimally utilise all the land and ensure that the property
earns a good return for contributors.
We anticipate an annual return of 15%,” he said.
Pension Towers is one of the projects under the Fund’s Real Estate Investments portfolio.
Other
real estate projects in the pipeline include a 5000 unit
affordable residential housing estate in Temangalo and a 3000 unit
estate for high income earners in Lubowa.
Experts have also defended the project saying that it will bridge the supply gap in the sky-high priced commercial rent sector.
Renowned architect
William Henry Ssentoogo, a Senior Partner with Ssentoogo&Partners
said thatthe building would significantly “bring rental costs as
well asaddress the supply gap.”
Then board chairman, Mr Vincent
Ssekoono, said that increased demand for modern office space in the city
centre meant that the fund would make more returns.
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