By SARAH MWANZA in Mitete –
THE Government has urged contractors to always research on the terrain and location of a place before bidding for contracts.
Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Deputy Minister Mutaba Mwali said lack of knowledge of places by contractors had led them to bid for contracts in places where they could not manage to work.
Speaking during an inspection of construction works in the newly-created Mitete District in Western Province, Dr Mwali said if contractors had an idea of the places where they would be working from,
they would be able to bid for the correct amount of money when applying for the contracts.
Dr Mwali said the Government was committed to ensuring that works in the newly-created districts were completed on time and was willing to pay extra money to contractors working in very remote and bad terrain areas like Western Province.
“I call on the contractors to research on the places where they are bidding for contracts. Some places are very had to reach, hence if a contractor has the knowledge of the challenges then he would be able to bid for the correct amount of money and manage to do the work,” he said.
The deputy minister further said reconsidering the tendering procedure would also ensure that contracts were given to the right contractor.
He said using the selective tendering process would help select experienced contractors and those capable of meeting the deadline.
“The selective tendering will help us award contracts to contractors whose works we have seen in places with the same terrain,” he said.
He said the open tendering process had led to many projects being left halfway by the contractors.
He cited Mitete District as one of the areas where most contractors had failed to perform accordingly, apart from Muco Trading Company, owing to poor road network, lack of water points and the crossing of the Zambezi River using a pontoon to transport building materials.
Muco Trading Company engaged to construct medium cost houses had managed to do the job as the contractor had done similar works in the province and was familiar with the place and the terrain.
Many construction works in Mitete District were moving at a slow pace due to the challenges that contractors were facing in transporting materials to the construction site due to the sand terrain.
Dr Mwali was not pleased with the progress of the works and promised to terminate some contracts and engage contractors who would manage to work in such terrains.
The contracts include the construction of a police post, civic centre, 20 low-cost and 10 medium-cost houses as well as an administrative block.