High Court stops Sh6bn upgrade of Parliament building

Parliament Buildings in Nairobi. High Court has stopped construction of a Sh6 billion National Assembly office block. FILE  Nation Media Group

By GALGALLO FAYO,

In Summary

• Construction of a Sh6 billion National Assembly office block has been stopped, pending the hearing of a suit challenging the tender award.
• China firm had been awarded tender to build the office block in Nairobi.

Construction of a Sh6 billion National Assembly office block has been temporarily halted, pending the hearing of a suit challenging the tender award.

Justice Hatari Waweru directed China Jiangxi International and the Parliamentary Service Commission to put on hold the construction in the interest of justice.

The suit filed by Milicons Limited and Svec Construction Limited is the third at the High Court challenging the decision of the Public Procurement and Review Board directing PSC to award the tender to the Chinese firm.

“I hereby refer this file to the chief justice to designate a judge and determine if the appeal can be heard during the Judiciary Service Week. In the interest of justice, the parties to maintain status quo until the hearing of this suit,” ordered Justice Waweru.

Parliament plans to build a 26-floor storey office block to house the expanded 418-member Legislature on a one-acre plot between Continental House and County Hall, a plot adjacent to Parliament Buildings.

Milicons Limited, a Kenyan firm, says it submitted a joint tender with Indian firm Svec Construction Limited to the PSC. When the PSC awarded the Chinese firm the tender, it applied for a review, which was rejected by the Public Procurement and Review Board.

The two firms appealed the decision at the High Court.  Justice Waweru said the suit is urgent since the nature of appeal requires a decision to be made within 30 days but even then only the chief justice can designate a judge to handle the suit during the service week.

Starting Monday for two weeks all judges in 20 High Courts countrywide will suspend their normal duties to clear over 1,500 pending criminal appeals.

Lawyer Waweru Gatonye for the petitioner argued that there was need to give a temporary order to stop the start of construction and payment of any money to the contractor, pending the outcome of the appeal.

He said the tender award process was flawed and since the contract involved huge amounts of tax payers’ money there was need for the court to intervene.

PSC said the contract had already been signed and therefore there was nothing to be stopped.

The Chinese firm and PSC objected to the suit, saying that the suit had already been adjudicated by the High Court before and that the petitioners were seeking to reopen a closed case.

Last month, Petu Developers Limited which was seeking to reverse the tender award to China Jiangxi withdrew the suit the suit after reaching an out-of- court agreement with PSC.

The construction was expected to begin last financial year and take three years to complete to ease the crisis of accommodating legislators, but it has been rocked by unending disputes.

The company further claimed that taxpayers stood to lose Sh245.6 million, which is the difference between the quotation of China Jiangxi and the lowest bidder.