THE government has vowed to swing the axe on snail-paced contractors after terminating its contract with M.A. Kharafi and Sons, who was building a water source in the Mwanga-Same-Korogwe mega water project.
The government’s decision to terminate the contract was announced by the Minister for Water Jumaa Aweso, after inspecting the project on Friday, citing the breach of contract by the company.
He said the sub-contractor, M.A. Kharafi & Sons, has failed to honour binding agreement, including the timeframe for the completion of the project.
“The implementation of the water project started in 2014 and it was expected to be completed by 2017 but so far no development has been achieved while people continue to face water crisis challenges. This is why we decided to terminate the contract due to the contractor’s delay in its implementation”, he said.
M.A. Kharafi and Sons was one of the two construction companies which were awarded the contract to implement the mega water project, whereby the other company Badr East Africa Enterprises Limited has been contracted to construct the water distribution infrastructures in the project.
According to the minister, the government implements the project at the cost of 262bn/- and upon its completion it will benefit more than 430,000 people in Mwanga and Same districts within Kilimanjaro Region, as well as in Korogwe District within Tanga Region.
He said in ensuring the people have reliable supply of water through the project, the government will use its experts to carry out other activities as far as the project is concerned, while at the same time making every effort to find another contractor who will complete the remaining work of the electrical infrastructures in the project.
He further assured the employees who were working under the M.A. Kharafi and Sons that the government would make sure that they get all their legitimate payments that the contractor owed them.
Minister Aweso also called on the management of Badr East Africa Enterprises Limited on their part to accelerate the project’s implementation and accomplish it by March, 2021, as stipulated in the contract.
In May, this year, the government through the Ministry of Water said in parliament that the mega water project was expected to be completed in September 2020, after the equipment for the project that initially stuck at the Dar es Salaam Port due to tax issues had been released.
The government waived the value added tax (VAT) for the project equipment on November 4th, 2019 and they were moved from the port to the site.
Upon completion, the project is expected to produce 103.7 million litres per day while the current demand is 78.4 million litres per day.
The project is set to benefit 246,793 people in Same, 177,085 in Mwanga and 15,053 in Korogwe.
Yesterday, Mr Aweso directed all contractors implementing water projects across the country to ensure that they accelerate the implementation of such projects and complete them on time so that people could benefit from it by accessing clean and safe water.
The first phase of a largescale government water supply project in the north of Tanzania includes the construction and operation of a raw water intake and pumping station, 3 trains of a water treatment plant, storage tanks, 12 Km of transmission lines, and bulk power supply.
The project is expected to cover 37 villages and two small towns, of which the first phase will cover 9 villages.