News / National
Fresh bidding for Egodini project
12 Dec 2017 at 05:19hrs | Views
CONSTRUCTION companies in Bulawayo have called for a fresh bidding process for the $60 million Egodini Mall project saying the initial communication on the project was not adequate.
Companies from Bulawayo and other parts of the country submitted their bids recently to participate in the ambitious project, which is expected to be handed over to the contractor, Terracotta Private Ltd, at the end of January next year with construction work slated for April 2018.
The request to extend the bid process was made during a meeting organised by the Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe (Cifoz) on Friday, where the director of Terracotta, Mr Thulani Moyo, indicated that the initial tender closed with eight bidders having expressed interest in being part of the project. Participants who attended the meeting asked for a special extension to allow them to submit their papers.
In response, Mr Moyo said they would engage the city council and see if they can consider advertising the tender again.
The contracting firms argued that the more submission Terracotta receives the more choices they have.
"We'll carefully look into that and see if we can re-advertise. The bidding process was closed on Friday last week (01 December 2017) and we received eight submissions from interested business people. We're already in the process of assessing the firms to see if they qualify and match the requirements," said Mr Moyo.
"We issued a tender beginning of October and it closed on December 1, 2017. We received eight submissions. Although the tender is open to everyone, we want the people of Bulawayo to benefit from this project."
He assured participating firms that his company would try to be as inclusive as possible throughout the whole project. Mr Moyo indicated that the first phase of the Egodini Mall will start in April after the city council hands over the site to them.
"If we have access to the site earlier we would be happy because we're ready. We'll start with the fencing, demolitions and civil works before the real construction starts in April," said Mr Moyo.
Last week, city fathers resolved to hand over project site to the contractor at the end of next month. This was after the finance committee chairperson, who is also Ward 16 councillor, Nephat Sibanda, moved a motion urging the local authority to cancel the tender due to failure by the contractor to implement the project on time. Terracotta won the tender for the project in 2012. The councillors did not adopt the motion arguing that council was also to blame for the delay.
The mega project, to be undertaken in phases, is expected to create thousands of jobs during construction and after completion. About 1 100 informal traders and 2 000 public transport operators make a living from operating at Egodini.
With limited alternative economic opportunities, Terracotta said it was important that implementation of the project prevents prolonged disruptions to commercial activities.
Council proposed the temporary relocation of informal traders and public transport operators to other sites during the construction period.
Companies from Bulawayo and other parts of the country submitted their bids recently to participate in the ambitious project, which is expected to be handed over to the contractor, Terracotta Private Ltd, at the end of January next year with construction work slated for April 2018.
The request to extend the bid process was made during a meeting organised by the Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe (Cifoz) on Friday, where the director of Terracotta, Mr Thulani Moyo, indicated that the initial tender closed with eight bidders having expressed interest in being part of the project. Participants who attended the meeting asked for a special extension to allow them to submit their papers.
In response, Mr Moyo said they would engage the city council and see if they can consider advertising the tender again.
The contracting firms argued that the more submission Terracotta receives the more choices they have.
"We'll carefully look into that and see if we can re-advertise. The bidding process was closed on Friday last week (01 December 2017) and we received eight submissions from interested business people. We're already in the process of assessing the firms to see if they qualify and match the requirements," said Mr Moyo.
He assured participating firms that his company would try to be as inclusive as possible throughout the whole project. Mr Moyo indicated that the first phase of the Egodini Mall will start in April after the city council hands over the site to them.
"If we have access to the site earlier we would be happy because we're ready. We'll start with the fencing, demolitions and civil works before the real construction starts in April," said Mr Moyo.
Last week, city fathers resolved to hand over project site to the contractor at the end of next month. This was after the finance committee chairperson, who is also Ward 16 councillor, Nephat Sibanda, moved a motion urging the local authority to cancel the tender due to failure by the contractor to implement the project on time. Terracotta won the tender for the project in 2012. The councillors did not adopt the motion arguing that council was also to blame for the delay.
The mega project, to be undertaken in phases, is expected to create thousands of jobs during construction and after completion. About 1 100 informal traders and 2 000 public transport operators make a living from operating at Egodini.
With limited alternative economic opportunities, Terracotta said it was important that implementation of the project prevents prolonged disruptions to commercial activities.
Council proposed the temporary relocation of informal traders and public transport operators to other sites during the construction period.
Source - chronicle
