Electric contractors want clarity on public projects
Electrical contractors Association Malawi (Elcam) says there is need for electrical tenders to be removed from civil building tender documents in the public infrastructure projects to maximise benefits.
The contractors also argue that by not separating electrical works from civil building projects, building contractors turn to uncertified electrical installers, which not only stiffle the sector, but also pose a safety risk and denying the domestic contractors adequate and timely pay.
In an interview on Tuesday, Elcam executive board member Patrick Chimpita said while the proposal to return to the old practice of nominated sub-contracting in public infrastructure procurement will bring openness, equality and fairness in public infrastructure procurement, it will also be beneficial to government.
He said: “During tendering, there is a one percent for Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority [PPDA] and National Construction Industry Council [NCIC] and the domestic system cannot effect this set-up.
“Further, when professionals are preparing bidding documents, they would ensure that electrical works are tendered separately, enabling electrical contractors to independently bid for electrical works.”
In a letter dated January 6 2022 addressed to the association, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo, said the proposal by Elcam is genuine.
Mvalo, however, encouraged Elcam to continue dealing with Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Public Works, PPDA and NCIC as they would be the ones directly involved in the procurement process of contracts for public civil projects.
“The best would be to ask for a joint meeting with them. When you agree with them on adopting a competitive bidding process for electrical contractors, we at the ministry would then receive instructions from the relevant government agencies to assist with the drafting of the new regulatory provisions to effect this.”
In a letter dated February 7 2023 addressed to PPDA, Elcam president Mark Gadama and his secretary Johnson Kapinji said a follow-up meeting the association had on January 27 2023 with PPDA and buildings department resorted to have a document submitted to PPDA to be included on a standard building document review exercise.
He said that domestic electrical contractors have contributed to compromising standards, non-compliance of rules and regulations of the electrical industry.
In a separate interview, NCIC corporate affairs officer Lyford Gideon said the council has been working with PPDA and the standardised documents will be published.
PPDA director general Edington Chilapondwa conceded that the area has been neglected for some time.
“Very soon, it will be regulated that the right people are contracted for the electrical works in public infrastructure projects,” he said.
Elcam, established in 1998, has been pushing the proposal since 2019, a situation Chimpita said has not yet yielded results.
