NAMWATER’S board has awarded a contract worth over N$510 million to two Chinese parastatals who are in joint ventures with Namibians, instead of one company, after realising that only a few well-connected locals will benefit if the job was given to one company.
The tender is for replacing water pipelines between Henties Bay and Swakopmund.
Beneficiaries of the contract include two Chinese state-owned firms and former President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s daughter Kaupumhote.
Executives at NamWater confirmed that the technical team recommended that the N$510 million tender be given to Kaupumhote’s company, Kata Investments which partnered China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a state-owned firm.
Those close to the deal said the board rejected recommendations to give the entire N$510 million contract to Kata and partners and instead directed that the contract be split in two and be given to two companies.
The former President’s daughter and her Asian partners will get a contract in excess of N$200 million after the tender was split.
The Namibian reported last year that the involvement of Kaupumhote in bidding for the NamWater tender raised suspicions of potential conflict of interest, which stems from the fact that NamWater’s board chairperson Esther Akwaake is former First Lady Penexupifo Pohamba’s close friend.
Unlike last year, when the plan was to give the contract to China State Construction Engineering Corporation and Kata Investment who initially bid N$510 million for the project, this time two more companies have been added to the same contract.
The companies that were added through a directive of the board in order to empower more Namibians is Chinese state-owned company Zhongmei Engineering Group which partnered local firm Luka Properties and bid N$520 million.
Spokesperson of the water utility Johannes Shigwedha confirmed yesterday that the contract has been given to the joint ventures that include Kata Investment, China State Construction Engineering and Zhongmei and Luka Properties.
He said even though Akwaake presided over the meeting which approved the tender, she did so based on the recommendations of three tender committees within the parastatal.
According to those in the know, some board members complained about the tactics of Chinese firms to use well-connected Namibians in what they call “window dressing joint ventures”.
Information from the ministry of industrialisation is that Luka Properties only has one director named Asino Johannes.
Information about him is sketchy but he is a former civil engineering technician at the Road Contractor Company (RCC).
A NamWater board member who declined to be named, said the board was in a dilemma because most of the Namibian bidders had Chinese partners and mostly quoted the same price.
The source said The Namibian report at the end of last year which exposed how Kaupumhote’s firm and her Asian partners were leading the race for the N$500 million tender, tipped board members of a possibility of collusion.
The board is the highest decision making body at the parastatal.
Chairperson of the NamWater board Akwaake, declined to comment yesterday. She has in the past declined commenting on potential conflict of interest since she was close to the former First Lady. Akwaake said she did not know who the contract went to and referred further questions to the spokesperson of the parastatal, who was not reachable.
The latest N$200 million contract adds to a list of other State contracts that Kaupumhote and her partners have scooped in the past two years. Her company has already won contracts worth N$116 million between 2013 and 2014.
The N$116 million includes the N$16 million contract to build houses in Otjiwarongo from the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) while the other tender is for a N$100 million Road Authority (RA) project, which is expected to be completed this year.
Kata Investments is still in the running for the N$81 million contract for the construction of a 36,2 kilometre gravel road from Epato, Otamanzi and Onaushe in the Omusati and Oshana regions for the Roads Authority.
It is also waiting for a N$47 million tender for the construction of bulk pipelines, reservoirs, booster pump stations and water meter installations from Ondangwa to Omuntele in Oshikoto region.
The 27-year-old Kaupumhote declined to comment yesterday. The Namibian has since last year made numerous opportunities available to her to state her side of the story but she has continuously turned them down.
Kaupumhote and her business partner, Taschiona !Gawaxab, have become the beloved duo of powerful Chinese State companies who lured them with their financial and machinery muscles in the civil engineering sector. Taschiona is the daughter of Johannes !Gawaxab, the former Old Mutual Africa managing director.
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