• Santigeno SRL only did the project design, then changed its name to Santigeno Generali, making it a different entity.
• Kiambere-Mwingi Water and Sanitation Company official claims firm has been declared bankrupt in Italy.
An Italian contractor's Sh.1.4 billion Kiambere-Mwingi water project contract has been terminated.
Tanathi Water Services Board chief executive Martin Muamati said on Sunday that Santigeno SRL Company only accomplished three per cent of the work by the end of the contract period.
Tanathi is the supervisor of the project.
“The Italian company only did the project design. Then in a weird move changed its name to Santigeno Generali, making it a different entity from the one we had entered a contract with,” Muamati said.
He said the contract was cancelled after a long pull and push between the firm and the government.
Phase 2 of the project is being reviewed after which the identification of a new contractor will begin, he said by phone amid reports that the Kitui county government was seeking private financing for the project.
The social media reported that Chinese firm Erdemann Property Limited had been identified as the financier.
Deputy governor Wathe Nzau was said to have led a delegation to meet the private company’s top officials in Nairobi last Friday.
But Muamati faulted the move by the county government for allegedly going behind the board's back to seek private financing for a project under its wings. He said the county government did not have any constitutional mandate to make such a move.
“County is overreaching on the matter. That is a national government project whose implementation falls under Tanathi. It is wrong for them to interfere in any way with the project,” Muamati told the Star.
He said that the Water Act prohibits county governments from taking up the national government's water projects and were only allowed to do reticulation from the projects’ reservoirs.
“Counties are also allowed by law to implement small community projects."
Earlier, Kiambere-Mwingi Water and Sanitation Company chairman Josphat Mulyungi said Edemann, which manufactures gypsum boards, had agreed to a Sh3 billion deal to revive the project.
Mulyungi, whose company manages Phase 1 of the project, claimed the Italian company had been adjudged bankrupt.
Edited by R.Wamochie