Deputy governor Mathews Owili has defended Kisumu for awarding the Sh99.5 million bitumen road tender to former Mwea MP Alfred Nderitu.
Owili said the tender under the Sh4.5 billion Kisumu Urban Projects, funded by the French government, was awarded based on qualifications and international capacity.
He pointed out that due process was followed in awarding the contract for
Nairobi Road-Nyamasaria-Sije road on May 2, 2017, under former governor Jack Ranguma's administration.
The construction of the road, designed by Otieno Odongo Associates, was launched last Thursday.
The public complained that local companies were sidelined in but Owili explained that only three bids were received from Nairobi-based companies. These were Pepeta Holdings, Ascoda General Contractors and Tosha Construction Engineering.
“The three firms were evaluated on their technical grounding from December 2016 to January 4, 2017," he told the press at City Hall on Friday, accompanied by city manager Doris Ombara and physical planning executive Nerry Achar.
"One firm, Pepeta, was knocked out at this stage for technical non-responsiveness with the remaining other two proceeding to the financial evaluation. Ascoda with a bid of Sh99,489,639 emerged the winner.
A notification of Award thereby followed on May 2, 2017.”
He added that on November 8, 2016, KUP presented tender documents for the five lots of bitumen roads to the Agence Française de Développement
for approval, a process that is known as “No objection”.
'Local firms must step up'
The DG noted commitment
to ensuring projects are completed in time and asked local firms to apply for tenders and embrace consortium bids.
“We must leverage on the different strengths that we have and move as one big entity. This will go a long way in laying the ground for the much needed capacity,' he said.
"The county government shall engage AFD to find ways of increasing the chances of local firms benefiting from projects that are implemented."
Owili further asked local entities to build
their capacities so they are given prominence during evaluation processes.
“This must be done within the confines of laws such as PPAD Act, 2015 and PFM Act, 2012. I am mightily encouraged by local firms that have participated and won tenders under the KUP programme and are doing awesome jobs.”
He commended firms such as Comacon Construction Company that is constructing Rweya Primary School, Polish Contractors Company that was assigned Thim Bonde Primary School and Gumba contractors that is working on Got Nyabondo Primary School.
Owili said Governor Anyang' Nyong’o inspected the projects and was pleasantly impressed as they were going according to schedule.
But he cautioned companies that have presented delivery and quality challenges, saying:
“This will definitely contribute to lowering your ratings should your names be forwarded to the National Construction Authority and other oversight bodies."