LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s civil rights group under the banner Centre for Mindset Change (CMC) has lauded Ministry of Transport and Public works for being transparent in awarding China Railway 20 (CR20) contract to design, upgrade and rehabilitate the railway section between Marka and Bangula project.
This comes after Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) stopped Mota-Engil from the project for contractual fraud coupled with overpricing.
ACB therefore ordered re-adverting the project for new bidders excluding Mota-Engil which was awarded at the tune of MK48.2 billion.
In a letter addressing to Transport Minister Jacob Hara, The Maravi Post has seen, CMC Executive Director Phillip Kamangirah is satisfied with the tendering process.
Kamangirah lauds the minister for acting swiftly over the fraud issues raised on the project that could cost taxpayers huge some of money.
He however disclosed that his grouping has rescinded decision of going to court to stop the re-tendering process and enforce re-evaluation as directed by ACB.
Kamangirah therefore appeals for disciplinary action against evaluation committee’s incompetency that awarded fraudulently Mota-Engil.
“Disciplinary Action against the Initial Evaluation Committee in one of our letters to your office and also to ACB, we asked for disciplinary action against the members of the evaluation committee that messed up the initial process. We would like to follow up on that.
“Secondly, we will be following up with ACB on how far they are because our understanding is that those responsible for mismanagement of the evaluation process have a case to answer. We believe the above interventions will deter other public officers from engaging in unethical practices when evaluating tenders,” reads in part CMC letter.
Once project is completed will connect Malawi to Mozambique through the 44 Kilometre Bangula-Nsanje railway line.
Below is the full CMC letter to Transport Ministry:
DESIGN, UPGRADING AND REHABILITATION OF THE RAILWAY SECTION BETWEEN MARKA AND BANGULA, CONTRACT NO. MTPW/IPDC/DORS/01/2020-2021 (Notice of Intention to Award).
Centre for Mindset Change (CMC) has been engaging, following and championing this project for the past year through various means including meeting you, we would like to express our gratitude to the Ministry of Transport and Public Works in the way you have handled the award of this project.
You have kept your word, and this gives us hope that it is no longer business as usual at the Ministry of Transport and Public Works (“MoTPW”).When we met you in January 2022, you assured us that you will not allow any underhand dealings during the retendering process as was the case with the previous process that was halted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (“ACB”).
Your assurance made us rescind our decision of going to court to stop the retendering process and enforce re-evaluation as directed by ACB.
As an organization, we would like to highlight the following for your attention:
Integrity of the Retendering Process:
1. The whole retendering process has been managed without leakage of information and with much secrecy it deserved. This is contrary to the initial process that led to the Intention to Award the Contract to Mota-Engil which was cancelled by ACB.
2. The speed with which the retendering process has been done (1.5 months as opposed to the 11 months for the initial tender) is very impressive and if all government ministries and departments can borrow a leaf from this, Malawi will never be the same.
Position of the Citizens within the Project Implementation Area Upon seeing the Notice of the Intention to Award in the newspapers, Centre for Mindset Change (CMC) dispatched its team to Nsanje to engage the local communities.
So far, we have been informed that the communities are eagerly waiting for the contractor to start the work as soon as possible because the project is long overdue.
Our team had met Eight (8) senior local chiefs who expressed their gratitude to the government of Malawi through the Ministry of Transport and Public Works for the project.
We will continue engaging the locals in that area so that they should continue embracing the project and assist where needed.
Disciplinary Action against the Initial Evaluation Committee in one of our letters to your office and also to ACB, we asked for disciplinary action against the members of the evaluation committee that messed up the initial process. We would like to follow up on that.
Secondly, we will be following up with ACB on how far they are because our understanding is that those responsible for mismanagement of the evaluation process have a case to answer.
We believe the above interventions will deter other public officers from engaging in unethical practices when evaluating tenders.
Lastly, we would like to encourage your ministry to look into rehabilitation and construction of the whole railway from Bangula to Limbe.
In that way, the economic gains of this project can be maximized.
Yours Faithfully,Phillip Kamangirah, CMC’s Executive Director
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