CSO wants railway contract scrutinised

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entre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (Cdedi) has asked Minister of Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara to withdraw the award of a 44-kilometre Bangula-Marka railway project to a new contractor.

In a letter signed by Cdedi executive director Sylvester Namiwa copied to Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma and Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) director Edington Chilapondwa, the grouping said the withdrawal should be made to allow for adequate review of the new contractor’s past performance.

The letter comes after Ministry of Transport and Public Works published a notice in The Nation of March 11 2022 indicating its intention to award the contract to China Railway 20 Bureau Group.

Reads the Cdedi letter in part: “Cdedi would like to bring to your attention Section 53 Subsection 2(f) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act of 2017, which among many others cites past performance as one of the criteria in deciding to award a contract to a contractor.”

But Malawi Engineering Institutions (MEI) board chairperson and president Engineer Alfonso Chikuni yesterday said only Roads Authority (RA) is better-placed to lodge a complaint with National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) it has issues with a contractor

He said without RA lodging a complaint as client, the contractor should continue participating in other bids.

The railway project, set to reconnect Malawi by rail to the Mozambican Indian Ocean coast port of Beira, was initially awarded to Portuguese construction and multi-disciplinary conglomerate Mota-Engil last year. However, ACB nullified the tender, citing procurement irregularities.

Government has since awarded the contract to China Railway 20 Bureau Group at a cost of K68 billion. The new contract costs K20 billion more compared to the nullified offer by Mota Engil which was at K48 billion.

In an interview with The Nation, Minister of Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara justified the increased cost of the project, saying it was due to the change in design of the railway line to match the Mozambican standard.

He said: “There are now more works besides the railway. I also changed the bearing load capacity to 20.5 tonne/axle load from the previous 18 tonne/axle load.”

The project was expected to start in February 2021, and missed the September 2021 deadline.

According to the project feasibility study report released in 2015, Beira and Nacala handle over 90 percent of Malawi’s imports and exports.

As of May 2021, Mozambique had already done a good part of the 44-kilometre stretch that starts from Mutarare in that country to Marka in Nsanje from where Malawi is supposed to pick up. The Sena line connecting to Beira was closed in the 1980s following the civil war in Mozambique.