Monday, 17 February 2014

Rita building costs queried


 The Public and Procurement Regulatory Authority’s (PPRA) board has raised queries on the amount of over Sh13.48 billion spent on construction of Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (Rita) and Government Employees Providence Fund (GEPF) buildings in Dar es Salaam.
Out of the amount, Sh8.43 billion was ostensibly spent on the GEPF’s 12-storey building located in Plot No. 37 Ali Hassan Mwinyi Rd and the remaining Sh5.05 billion used to put up Rita’s building on Plot No.727/11 at Makunganya and Simu streets.
The dubitable spending of public funds was revealed yesterday in Dar es Salaam by PPRA’s board chairman, Matern Lumbanga at the press conference. “The dubious payment was in the repeated jobs contrary to the contract, payment to the contactor before time, misuse of tax exemption, additional activities out of contract, extra payment as the result of incorrect evaluation and payment for non-existing activities,” said Dr Lumbanga.
He said the discrepancy was found after the authority commissioned the professional team to verify the results which implicated the two institutions in dubious payment, but the reports were partly opposed.
The team members were from Nation Construction Council (NCC), Engineers Registration Board (ERB), PPRA professional consultants and Architects and Quantity Surveyor Registration Board. “We decided to commission the team because some of the PPRA audit report and the professional consultancy’s results were partially agreed by the two institutions,” said Dr Lumbanga.
With regard to GEPF, the team found that there was Sh8.43 billion, 93.5 per cent of all dubious payment claimed before. It also found that there was Sh847 million import duty and Value Added Tax (Vat) on account of importing on exemption materials which were not used in the project,
There were also weaknesses in floating the tender to get contactor and consultant, which included advancement payment of 30 per cent from the required 15 per cent and delay in completion of the project by 127 days. The contractor was supposed to pay Sh1.49 billion for the delay.
As of Rita, the team found Sh5.05 billion dubitably paid. It also found extra questionable payment amounting Sh10.67 million to the contractor and Sh22.9 million spent on preliminaries. Dr Lumbanga said based on the team’s findings, the two institutions in the saga were given two months to comply with the instructions. He said: “GEPF and Rita have been instructed to submit to PPRA the report on implementation of the board instructions within two months since receiving the note.”
GEPF has been instructed to pay to the TRA Sh847 million on account of forged exemptions on some imports, deduct Sh1.5 billion from the contractor’s payment.

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