…Chinese allegedly in bed with MCP officials to meddle
K11 billion calculation error or insider information? The fight for who will construct the multibillion-kwacha new prison for the City of Lilongwe to be built on the outskirts of the Chitedze area continues, with two final bidders being accused of monkey tricks to win the contract.
Senior public officials are now wary of overloading Chinese construction firms that are failing to complete projects. The Ministry of Transport is no longer awarding new contracts to Chinese firms until they finish their old projects.
The Ministry of Homeland Security, which has awarded the contract to another firm, is facing a Chinese company’s underhand. After it emerged that the contract would be given to the second-scored bidder, it enlisted a politician (MCP MP’s name was withheld) to fight for them, public officials claimed.
For Chitedze Prison, however, Haoulong Construction and Paramount were the final bidders for the project, which is estimated at K73 billion. Paramount emerged second with a K7 billion bid, and the Chinese contractor was first with K57 billion costs.
However, Chinese companies have been accused of submitting low bids to win contracts, and once they win, they cite numerous excuses and adjust the overall project costs.
“The two finalists were submitted to PPDA for no objection for the Ministry to proceed in awarding contracts. When they realised that they could not adjust after winning, The Chinese claimed they had made errors in calculating the bid by K11 billion. The figure error raised questions,” said a source from the PPDA.
The PPDA was not impressed with such an astronomical rise in costs when bid preparations were supposed to be completed, and questions were raised about the contractor’s intentions.
The PPDA sent the bids back to Homeland Security, where the Ministry was also wary of the adjustments, so it went with the second bid, which was within the price range of the project estimates.
“This technically makes sense and avoids future unforeseen adjustments, but the Chinese company has now enlisted some politicians in the ruling party who are fighting to have PPDA approve it despite many questions as to how a bidder can make a K11 billion mistake,” alleged an official aware of the process.
The Chinese’s initial winning bid was allegedly sent by the then Secretary for Homeland Security Kumbambe after he had already been reassigned from the Ministry, which raised questions about the interests vested in the contract.
Last year, the contract was not awarded after infighting, accusations of bad influence emerged during the bidding process, and some were accused of using MCP politicians to prop up their contracts.
The PPDA is expected to make its final decision soon.
