Wamalwa blames PS for dam tender tussle

Eugene Wamalwa, Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By EDWIN MUTAI

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Summary

• Water CS Eugene Wamalwa warned PS Nduati Mwangi that he will be held personally responsible if his decision to award the tender will result in an extra cost of Sh3 billion from the lowest evaluated bidder.
• Mr Wamalwa and Mr Mwangi have been at loggerheads over the award of the tender that two Chinese firms— China Gezhouba Construction Group Corporation (CGGC) and STECOL Corporation (Sino Hydro Tianjin Engineering Co Ltd—have been ...battling for.

Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has told his Principal Secretary (PS) Patrick Nduati Mwangi to take responsibility for the controversy surrounding the award of a Sh62.3 billion tender for the construction of Thwake dam.

Mr Wamalwa warned Mr Mwangi that he will be held personally responsible if his decision to award the tender will result in an extra cost of Sh3 billion from the lowest evaluated bidder.

He told the Agriculture committee that the PS had sought his opinion, that of the Attorney General, the project financier-African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) who all advised that Mr Mwangi awards the contract to the lowest evaluated bidder.

Mr Wamalwa and Mr Mwangi have been at loggerheads over the award of the tender that two Chinese firms— China Gezhouba Construction Group Corporation (CGGC) and STECOL Corporation (Sino Hydro Tianjin Engineering Co Ltd—have been battling for.

Picking the winner of the contract has sparked a vicious war between the two officials.

While Mr Wamalwa insists that the contract should be awarded to the lowest bidder (China Gezhouba as recommended by the Tender Processing Evaluation Committee (TPC), Mr Mwangi has sided with the recommendations of the Ministerial Tender Committee (MTC) that approved award of the contract to the second highest evaluated bidder (Sino Hydro).

The MTC, which Mr Mwangi appointed on February 9, 2017, overruled recommendations of the TPC to award the Sh62.3 billion tender to CGGC— the lowest evaluated bidder.

READ: Kitui dam set to cost taxpayers Sh3b more

CGCC put in a bid of Sh36.9 billion for the first phase of the multi-billion shilling dam, but the MTC went ahead and awarded the contract to (Sino Hydro) at a cost of Sh39.5 billion.

Mr Mwangi on Wednesday told MPs that he would back the decision of the MTC meaning that if he goes ahead to award the tender to Sino Hydro, the second lowest bidder, taxpayers will cough up Sh3 billion more for phase one of the project.

Mr Wamalwa said although the issues of integrity are key, section 227 of the Constitution requires the PS to award the tender “in accordance with a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost- effective.”

“The AfDB, the Attorney General, EACC and myself have advised him to award the tender to lowest evaluated bidder Gezhouba.

“Your (MPs) decision is very important as to whether or not this project will collapse or stand,” Mr Wamalwa told the Mohamed Noor-led committee.

The committee is investigating the circumstances under which Mr Mwangi is seeking to award the multi-billion project to a company that is alleged to have been blacklisted by the AfDB and the World Bank for “integrity issues.”