Staff Reporter
AUGUST Twenty-Six Construction, the military company awarded a government tender to construct over 500 classrooms countrywide, has addressed the issue of some unpaid labourers involved in the project.
Martha Endjala, the Managing Director of August 26 Construction, explained that the company regretfully learned through the news media that some labourers at the construction site of Swakopmund Secondary School were aggrieved about delayed salaries.
Awarded an emergency project tender through Direct Procurement in June 2023 by the Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture, August Twenty-Six Construction was tasked with constructing 534 Classroom Blocks and 74 Ablution Blocks nationwide.
“We are highly conscious of maintaining an exemplary corporate image and value our partners. Subsequent to discovering the grievances, we reached out swiftly to the specific site management to seek clarity on the grievance. For one reason or another, some workers were not paid. We engaged local site management to ensure that all due remunerations to labourers are settled in full, and as of today, the labourers’ grievances in that regard have been amicably resolved,” Endjala said.
She added that the company is fully committed to maintaining sound working relationships with stakeholders. “We will continue to sensitize our principals to adhere to regulations and diligently honour obligations to their subjects. We further encourage aggrieved labourers to prioritize raising their valid concerns with our office first for resolution, a step of good faith in solving problems that might come our way. We are confident in managing our teams and do our very best to ensure that our goals and objectives of this project are achieved according to plan,” Endjala said.
Further, she explained that 97% of the 534 classroom blocks have been successfully completed and handed over to the Client in satisfaction.
“The outstanding is mostly for sites where the commencement of construction was delayed due to challenges such as construction sites not identified or sites in floodplains that required elevated platforms. It is our standard principle and key priority that given the scale of this project, as many local SMEs and Namibians, in particular, should benefit from job creation opportunities and upskilling of their labour force. In this regard, we engaged able local SMEs from within the regions to participate in the construction project under our management and support,” Endjala said.
She added that all subcontractor SMEs involved at the various project sites are duly paid up to date as per the progress payments. “It is our logical expectation that they would subsequently pay what is due to their labourers,” Endjala said.
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