Emergency Projects more suitable for PE’s – Nghipondoka
Staff Reporter
THE Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture has denied accusations that it has left the private sector out in the cold and has defended its allocation of a N$255 million tender to August 26 Construction (Pty) Ltd Public Entity to construct classrooms. This is happening as the country is faced with a major backlog in classrooms, with many students being educated in haphazard infrastructure.
Namibia is currently in need of about 2 837 classrooms countrywide.
The Education minister, Anna Nghipondoka, in a statement, said that a total of 510 classrooms (out of the 1 248 envisaged to be constructed this financial year) and 74 ablution facilities were granted to August 26 Construction Pty Ltd for a total amount of N$255 million, with an agreement to construct and hand over these facilities within a period of four months, commencing in June 2023.
“Currently, 90% of these facilities have been completed without any single one being at risk of non-completion,” said Nghipondoka.
She added that since the advent of COVID-19, the Ministry has been collaborating with some public entities, notably the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Namibia Correctional Services, August 26 Construction Company, and the Namibia Training Authority (NTA), concerning the provision of water supply infrastructure to schools, construction of ablution facilities, and classrooms in schools in various regions, countrywide.
These collaborations have been initiated and made possible using the relevant provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2015 (Act No. 15 of 2015) as amended. In particular, section 34 of this Act allows for Execution by Public Entities (EPE).
“It should be noted that, through this initiative, the Ministry has made great strides in its endeavour to address the urgency of classroom shortage in the country,” Nghiopondoka said.
She defended that the Ministry opted for the EPE procurement method (as provided for in the Public Procurement Act) which was pursued to secure a short-term agreement for the emergency construction of additional classrooms and ablution facilities by August 26 Construction (Pty) Ltd.
“Therefore, the use of the aforementioned public entities and, in particular, August 26 Construction Company, was a well-considered choice for the Ministry to procure works for the emergency construction of classrooms and related infrastructure, speedily, at affordable rates and with zero risk of project abandonment,” Nghipondoka said.
She added that the Ministry is contented to report its full satisfaction with the work of August 26 Construction Company and its responsiveness to deliver within the agreed time frame and within the Ministry’s financial means. “Given this achievement, the Ministry considers the Execution by Public Entities as an ideal procurement option that it would like to pursue further in the short to medium term to contain the current infrastructure backlog while, at the same time, employing the Open National Bidding (ONB) procurement approach for the long-term needs,” Nghipondoka said.
The minister said that the private sector is not completely left out, as the education ministry has steadily been procuring through the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) using the open market approach.
She stated that to date, 12 capital projects for the construction of schools and school hostels with a total value of N$936 million have been procured or are in the process of being procured through the CPBN.
The minister added that the Ministry’s procurement of foodstuff for supply to all government school hostels and also for the school feeding programme, mainly for primary schools, countrywide, which is valued at a combined total of N$2.7 billion (multi-year for 36 months) has been procured or is under the process of being procured through the CPBN.
Leave a Reply