The Roads Authority (RA) Chief Executive Officer, Conrad Lutombi, said the institution will not compromise on the technical standards of road infrastructure and will ensure a competent constructor works on the roads.

Lutombi made these remarks at a media conference in Swakopmund on Thursday regarding the Pre-Qualification Process for the Rehabilitation of the Usakos-Karibib road, which will be funded by the German Government through the KfW Development Bank.

“This is a very important project, it carries more than 1 000 vehicles per day and we want to construct it with the standard that will live for many more years after we are no longer here,” he emphasised.

According to Lutombi, due to the high technical nature of the work required on this road, RA carried out pre-qualification proceedings in line with section 42 of the Public Procurement Act of 2015.

Furthermore, open international bidding was used in line with annexure two of the Public Procurement Act and as per the procurement requirement of KfW.

“The invitation for the pre-qualification proceeding was done from 14-16 September 2022 publicly through local print media and the invitation was open for both local and international companies to submit their applications pre-qualification in line with the set criteria,” he said.

Lutombi noted that a pre-bid meeting was also held on 15 September 2022 and the deadline for submission was 24 November 2022, which was an extension to the initial deadline of 22 November, on the request of the Construction Industry Federation.

A total of 17 applications were received for the pre-qualification process and an evaluation process was completed in December 2022 and then sent to KfW for approval in line with its criteria.

“The evaluation concluded that seven of the 17 met the requirements and will further be required to submit their bids. Furthermore, bidders who did not meet the set criteria were given an opportunity to raise their objections and thus far, no objections were received,” Lutombi expressed.

The project will commence as soon as the bidding process is completed as funds are already available, he noted.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency