Works and Transport Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala and legislators clashed over the controversies surrounding the expansion of Entebbe International Airport.
The expansion works on the airport commenced in 2016 with a completion date of May 2021 for the first phase.
The development followed the approval of a $200 million loan from the Export Import Bank of China (EXIM).
The project is being executed by China Construction Communication Company (CCCC) and involves expansion of the facility’s main runway, construction of runway end safety area at both ends and two exit taxiways among many others.
The undertaking has, however, not evaded public scrutiny. In November last year, UCAA was forced to come out following reports that the airport had been surrendered to China.
Since then, the Joel Ssenyonyi-led Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) has taken interest.
In today’s hearing for instance, Ssenyonyi disclosed that the Government and CCCC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) before doing a feasibility study.
Ssenyonyi also probed how CCCC, which is executing works, was given the leeway to do feasibility studies.
Roland Ndyomugyenyi (Rukiga County MP) on the other hand disclosed that CCCC is seeking payment for an additional $3 million which ideally Uganda is not supposed to remit under the Design and Build Contract.
“This was not an EPCF (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing) contract, it’s a design and build contract. And as you rightly said the risks and all the responsibilities should be taken by the contractor,” said Ndyomugyenyi.
“Now here is the situation that the same contractor who got a contract of $200 million in ways which are not clear is now adding a $3.4 million on top of that as a variation and yet this is a design and build contract,” charged Ndyomugyenyi.
“And the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Act is very clear. And it has pronounced itself very clear in its letter to UNRA saying if it’s a design and build contract where there is a variation which increases the cost of the project. The designer and contractor should bear the cost,” he argued.
When these matters were put to Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, he denied having a hand.
“Unfortunately a lot has gone under the bridge over time. This was 2012, I may not know the whole genesis or even how the project came into being,” said Gen Katumba.
“What I would request from the Honourable Chair is that if you feel that was putting the cart before the horse, then move on forward to future projects. But going back to try and undo what was done in 2012 would be asking for a tall order because I was not party to even the initial discussions,” he added.
Scandal
While appearing before the Committee on Tuesday, 08 February 2022, along with CCCC officials, Levi Musinguzi, the former Assistant Business Development Manager of CCCC, who appeared as a witness told COSASE that there was no tender or bidding procedures followed in the contract award and that CCCC got the ‘contract’ through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ministry of Works.
This according to the committee is in contravention of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Act that calls for competitive bidding.
Musinguzi said that the contract award arose from a technical proposal that CCCC initiated to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to include the Entebbe Airport project as a linkage to the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway that was being constructed by the same company.
It is this same proposal that was adopted by CAA leading to the award of the contract without competitive bidding or any cost negotiations.
“This so called procurement did not go through the entire procurement chain. In procurement, there are two important items that is; tender and bidder documents. But in this particular matter, there was no tender document generated by CAA and Ministry of Works inviting bidders. There was only CCCC,” Musinguzi said.
CCCC country manager, Joseph Zhang confirmed that there was no open bidding in the award of the contract, but was quick to say that a proper binding MOU was signed with Ministry of Works.
Hon Roland Ndyomugyenyi (Indep., Rukiga County) called for a forensic investigation into the Entebbe airport contract award saying the Chinese firm fraudulently acquired the contract.
