EU withdraws funding for Masaka roads
Sep 27, 2009
THE European Union has pulled out of the financing agreement for the Masaka-Kyotera and Masaka-Villa Maria road works. This decision has put the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) top guns in the spotlight following allegations of lack of transparency
By James Odomel
THE European Union has pulled out of the financing agreement for the Masaka-Kyotera and Masaka-Villa Maria road works. This decision has put the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) top guns in the spotlight following allegations of lack of transparency in the tender awards.
The European Union (EU) pulled out of the project after an internal probe into the award of the sh9.2b tender to Dott Services, a Kampala-based firm, indicated that there was impropriety.
Dott Services had quoted sh6.7b at the time the tender was advertised, but after the signing of the deal between the finance ministry, the EU and UNRA in March, this quotation was substituted with another of sh9.2b under unclear circumstances.
The development put the UNRA director of planning David Luyimbazi into the spotlight for allegadly conniving with Dott Services to substitute the final awards, creating the sh2.5b discrepancy.
At the time the scandal first broke out, Luyimbazi claimed the controversial difference in figures was a result of an arithmetic error by Dott staff.
He was subsequently interrogated by the CID economic crimes section on November 10 last year, for tampering with the bid documents.
Peter Ssebanakita, the UNRA executive director, was also summoned for questioning.
Moses Sakira, the deputy director of CID, said the investigations were still going on, but “will be concluded soon.â€
“Yes, we are handling the case of falsified documents and we hope to conclude the investigations as soon as possible,†he said.
The EU press and information officer, Simon Kasyate, said: “We have strong reason to believe that there were irregularities and these are being investigated by the Police.
We are waiting for their final findings before we make a decision,†he said.
However, the EU commissioned its own probe after the CID inquiry was reportedly mismanaged.
Five firms, namely Dott Services, Cementer, Multiplex, Omega Construction and Stirling that formed a consortium with Spencon, had bid for the project.
Dott Services, which is said to have quoted the lowest bid of sh6.7b, but won deal, which was signed on March 4.
THE European Union has pulled out of the financing agreement for the Masaka-Kyotera and Masaka-Villa Maria road works. This decision has put the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) top guns in the spotlight following allegations of lack of transparency in the tender awards.
The European Union (EU) pulled out of the project after an internal probe into the award of the sh9.2b tender to Dott Services, a Kampala-based firm, indicated that there was impropriety.
Dott Services had quoted sh6.7b at the time the tender was advertised, but after the signing of the deal between the finance ministry, the EU and UNRA in March, this quotation was substituted with another of sh9.2b under unclear circumstances.
The development put the UNRA director of planning David Luyimbazi into the spotlight for allegadly conniving with Dott Services to substitute the final awards, creating the sh2.5b discrepancy.
At the time the scandal first broke out, Luyimbazi claimed the controversial difference in figures was a result of an arithmetic error by Dott staff.
He was subsequently interrogated by the CID economic crimes section on November 10 last year, for tampering with the bid documents.
Peter Ssebanakita, the UNRA executive director, was also summoned for questioning.
Moses Sakira, the deputy director of CID, said the investigations were still going on, but “will be concluded soon.â€
“Yes, we are handling the case of falsified documents and we hope to conclude the investigations as soon as possible,†he said.
The EU press and information officer, Simon Kasyate, said: “We have strong reason to believe that there were irregularities and these are being investigated by the Police.
We are waiting for their final findings before we make a decision,†he said.
However, the EU commissioned its own probe after the CID inquiry was reportedly mismanaged.
Five firms, namely Dott Services, Cementer, Multiplex, Omega Construction and Stirling that formed a consortium with Spencon, had bid for the project.
Dott Services, which is said to have quoted the lowest bid of sh6.7b, but won deal, which was signed on March 4.