By MICHAEL WAKABI, The EastAfrican
In Summary
- Museveni’s intervention follows an August 20 meeting between the government, Chinese contractors and the commercial consul of the Chinese embassy in Kampala.
- The feuding rail contractors were given up to September 10 to form a single consortium and agree on a work-share plan.
A dispute between three Chinese civil
contractors over an agreement to build a 1,500 kilometre standard gauge
railway network in Uganda is headed for President Museveni after efforts
to reconcile the feuding parties failed.
The EastAfrican has learnt that the head
of state is set to convene a meeting with China Communication
Construction Company, China Harbour Engineering Corporation and the
China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in the next few weeks.
President Museveni’s intervention follows an
August 20 meeting between a government rail sector working group, the
Chinese companies and the commercial consul of the Chinese embassy in
Kampala that gave the companies up to September 10 to form a single
consortium and agree on a work-share plan.
Each of the companies was represented by three
delegates, with Justin Jing representing the Chinese embassy and former
assistant US trade representative for Africa now turned lobbyist, Rosa
Whitaker standing in as a friend of Uganda.
A messy affair
In proposing a consortium, Uganda is trying to
untangle a mess created by different arms of government signing parallel
MoUs with the Chinese companies exposing the country not only to
potential litigation but lengthy delays in procurement of contractors
for the project.
The meeting, which was chaired by the Minister of
State for Works John Byabagambi, told the companies that the Ministry of
Defence would be the lead agency in implementing the country’s railway
projects.
While the firms met later under the stewardship of
the Chinese embassy in Uganda, it is understood that they failed to
reach an agreement. The first point of departure was the proposal for a
three-way split between the three contractors.
According to sources privy to the talks, that
proposal was contested by the China Civil Engineering Construction
Corporation, which argued that it would give undue advantage to its
competitors since they were both subsidiaries of the same parent
company.
Apparently, China Civil Engineering Construction
Corporation also feels entitled to a better deal because according to
the minutes of the August 20 meeting, the contractor’s MoU, signed with
the Ministry of Works in January 2012, is still valid.
The Kampala-Tororo-Gulu-Pakwach segment was
assigned to China Harbour Engineering Corporation;
Kampala-Kasese-Mpondwe to China Civil Engineering Construction
Corporation and the Bihanga-Mirama Hills-Kigali line to China
Communication Construction Company.
The 720-kilometre Kampala-Tororo-Gulu-Pakwach
segment is becoming contentious because China Civil Engineering
Construction Corporation has a current MoU with the ministry while China
Communication Construction Company has an expired one.
An amicable and speedy solution is needed so that the government can begin sourcing funding.
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