Suspended firm to work on city roads

Ban. Energo Projekt was barred from undertaking any World Bank funded project over fraudulent practices.

The firm suspended by the Word Bank over alleged fraudulent practices will continue with all its projects with KCCA, officials have said.

The bank, early this year, stopped Serbian construction company, Energo Projekt, from undertaking any of its projects for the next two-and-half years after investigations unearthed fraudulent practices in the way the company conducts business.

Energo Projekt is one of the firms that is regularly contracted by the KCCA and is in charge of road construction projects in Kawempe-Kafu road for over Shs19 billion and Nakawa, project supported by the World Bank under the Kampala Integrated Development Project.

However, Mr Andrew Kitaka, the KCCA director in-charge of engineering and technical services yesterday said the ban does not affect KCCA projects.

Projects unaffected
“The projects from which they were suspended are not handled by KCCA. They were banned from projects handled by the government. In fact, the ban does not affect the older projects but the new ones,” he said.

World Bank is in the process of reviewing all its projects in Uganda following the discovery of massive corruption in the Office of the Prime Minister where more than Shs60 billion meant for reconstruction programmes in northern Uganda where siphoned out by officials.

Under its Integrity Vice Presidency programme that is responsible for or preventing, deterring and investigating allegations of fraud, collusion and corruption in World Bank projects, the institution has so far suspended 584 non-governmental institutions and individuals.

Earlier last year, the World Bank also suspended Oxford University Press Limited East Africa after they admitted misconduct in handling of education projects.

akiyaga@ug.nationmedia.com