RC decries treachery in Machinga Complex development project

DAILY NEWS Reporter

DAR ES SALAAM Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda is pushing for the termination of the contract to run Machinga Complex to save public funds.

He has pleaded with the Minister of State in President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Governments, Mr George Simbachawene, to revoke what he has described as exploitative contract.

Mr Makonda, addressing reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday, said the existing deal between Dar es Salaam City Council (DCC) and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) was not beneficial, demanding that the contract be revoked.

He proposed to the government to repossess the complex under agreement that it operates the mall jointly with NSSF, with the DCC getting the property tax for the land.

In case the arrangement is proved impossible, Mr Makonda proposed for the city council to take full control over the market complex under the new agreement as opposed to the current shoddy deal.

The RC further called on the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to swing into action and investigate how much has been swindled in the project. He elaborated that the social security fund has entered into an agreement with the City Council to issue a 10bn/- loan to construct 10,000 compartments and yet only 4,200 were put up, translating to a shortage of 5,800 cubicles.

“When we reviewed the contract we found serious flaws implying that the deal was signed with officials who had their personal rather than public interests,” he explained.

Mr Makonda said additional scrutiny found out that the loan dished out for the project surged to 12.7bn/- from 12.14bn/-, translating to additional cost of 560m/-.

More still, sub-section 4.1 of the contract was changed to effect that instead of disbursing the money to the city council, the lender directly paid the project’s consulting engineers and contractors.

He pointed further that contrary to the contract which stipulated that the loan had a grace period of two years before payment of interest rates, the lender started charging interests shortly after handing over the building.

The agreement had also barred the city council from inspecting and making follow up on expenses used to build the complex, according to the RC.

Mr Makonda said as of March this year, the City Council owed 38bn/- in the project but had only settled 50m/-, decrying what he described as poor financial management due to the shoddy project.