John Ekongo
22 October 2008
Henties Bay Municipality, particularly its Chief Executive Officer Pieter Gurirab, is accused of approving a multi-million-dollar road upgrading project at the town without the consent of the line ministry, the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, New Era was informed.
Gurirab is said to have sanctioned the N$36-million Jakkalsputz road tarring project, as well as other development projects at the town without the approval of a council resolution as well as that of the line ministry, sources revealed.
Despite a pending approval that was yet to come from the ministry, work has already started on the road, which has left some senior officials puzzled.
"How do you sell the skin hide of a sheep that is not yet slaughtered," one official questioned.
The two-part project entails the upgrading of the main street in town which will cost the taxpayers N$14 million; the services and development of
150 erven at the town's "Suidduin" area which comes in at N$18 million; as well as related charges coming in at N$2 million, all adding up to N$36 million.
It has also come to light that complete payment, once the project is concluded, will come from the sale of serviced erven.
According to a reliable insider, Gurirab is "sel-fish" and makes one-man decisions when it comes to the implementation of council resolutions.
Although all formal processes were followed initially, council resolutions to grant permission as well as ministerial approval are missing, according to the source. Sources say this is a requirement for all capital projects of this magnitude.
Sources New Era spoke to are convinced that regulations pertaining to approval procedures appear to have been circumvented by Gurirab who unilaterally decided to hand over the two-part deal to upgrade the Jakkalsputz road to bitumen standard as well that of developing services infrastructure for the Henties Bay Extension 10 to Swakopmund-based civil engineering company Salz Gossow, despite resistance from some officials.
It is claimed that the ministry requested a hold on the project and also advised the town council to look for alternate funding from other banks, preferably the Development Bank of Namibia. Only then would the ministry approve, in line with the Local Authority Act.
The municipality had earlier sought funding to the tune of N$10 million from a local bank to finance part of the projecct.
Documents with New Era indicate that the loan was granted on condition that the town council shows proof of ministerial approval.
However, new information reveals that a meeting with the DBN was convened last week, and a loan of N$15 million was approved following the advice of the ministry.
Meanwhile, New Era has been made to understand that the contractor last week threatened to stop work should they not get paid by Friday, October 17, 2008. Work on the project started on May 8.
New Era is privy to documents in which Salz-Gossow requests the town council to provide a written guarantee as to how and when they intend to settle the outstanding amounts.
A letter dated October 6, 2008 addressed to the municipality reads, "Your non-payment of our approved claims certificates have raised concerns with our bankers, who now request a written guarantee from your municipality, as to how and when you intend to settle the outstanding amounts."
It adds that "the outstanding payments have now become a very serious matter and we will have no alternative than to stop all site operations should we not receive payment or a valid payment guarantee by the 17th October".
Approached for comment, Gurirab stressed that the Act gives the municipality powers to upgrade existing roads, as is the case with the Jakkalsputz road. He added that what his council is doing is merely re-standardising an already existing infrastructure and not building a new road. The latter, he said, requires ministerial approval.
Gurirab refuted claims that no council resolution is available.
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