President’s new office block queried

Kampala
Queries are being raised over the quality of the new Shs50 billion twin-tower office building to house the President and Prime Minister’s offices after it emerged that its construction has reached the sixth floor without supervision.

Chinese firm, Ms Yanjian Co. Ltd, is constructing the nine-floor twin-tower covering 15,900 square metres but technocrats at the Ministry of Works have failed to appoint a consultant supervisor, five months after work on the building began in November last year. The new office building located behind Parliament at former CID headquarters is being built with a $25m (Shs50b) donation from the Chinese government. However, Minister John Nasasira said, “The building is not being constructed without supervision; the contractor is being supervised by our architects in the ministry. We couldn’t keep the Chinese idle yet we have technical people in the ministry to do the work”.

“The procurement process delayed and we needed to move. But we are now waiting for the PPDA to clear the process after that, we shall appoint a consultant to take over from our architects who are currently doing the job otherwise; as far as this project is concerned the supervision is guaranteed,” he added.
Daily Monitor has leant that after the procurement process, involving security vetting, Ministry of Works on November 4, 2009 announced that Arch Design Ltd, a local consultant, had beaten Symbion (U) Ltd to the Shs1.2b contract. The Kenyan firm was said to have failed security vetting carried out by the Presidential Guard Brigade and communicated in a September 1, 2009 letter by Ms Tecla Kinalwa, the Permanent Secretary in the President’s Office.

“I am confirming that Arch Design is currently, the only consultancy firm recommended to carry out supervision of the construction of the said government office block,” Mr Kinalwa, again wrote on October 2, 2009 to the PS, Ministry of Works – Mr Charles Muganzi.
According to documents available, on November 6 2009, the Ministry of Works entered into negotiations with Arch Design but the process was halted after Symbion complained to the Security Minister for the disqualification on security grounds. They argued that they had earlier supervised construction of other government buildings.

Ministry of Works Spokesperson Susan Kataike confirmed that the construction had commenced without a consultant but said the process to sort out the matter was being handled by the PPDA.

“It’s true there is no consultant yet, we had started on the process but one of the firms complained and there is an administrative review going on. There is nothing much we can do; we are just waiting for the PPDA to finalise the process next week,” Ms Kataike said.

Experts have warned that failure by the technocrats at the Ministry of Works to procure a consultant may attract dire consequences in the future as the consultant is supposed to supervise the contractor, interpret architectural drawings/ designs and ensure that the building complies with the Public Health Act.

Call for supervision
“It’s extremely dangerous to leave contractors without supervision, this is the reason why buildings collapse and roads develop potholes due to shoddy work,” said Eng Francis Baziraake, the vice president of Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers.

“Supervision is a must; otherwise, materials such as cement can easily be adulterated because contractors want to save on materials,” he added.

The President of Uganda Society of Architects, Mr Enoch Kibamu said: “There are no short-cuts in construction, failure to have a consultant because one wants to save some money is unacceptable. In such a scenario, the contractor specifies what is good for him; does cost-cutting and in the end the building collapses.”
Under the terms of the contract, the government is responsible for paying taxes and duties for equipment and other materials required for the project, while China is responsible for the overall cost of the project, including paying the contractor.