MINEPAT delegate doubts sincerity of low bidders

The divisional delegate of economy, planning and regional development, MINPAT for Ndian, Fosop Asaah Dominic has cast doubts on the worth of lowest bidders in public contracts.

Fosop made the observation during the second quarter of the participatory follow-up committee of the public investment budget of Mundemba. He opined that the entire idea of lowest bidders should be wiped out in the division, pointing out that lowest bidders in most cases fail to execute their projects.

Fosop disclosed that more than 1 billion FCFA received by the division within the framework of the 2014 PIB was later increased by 800 MFCFA under the priority investment program of the ministry of planning.

Speaking earlier, the vice chair of the follow-up committee, Rev. Father Mugagga told participants that all projects earmarked for the division must be consumed at 100% and that no individual should stand as a barrier to this since the long arm of the law is awaiting defaulters.

He disclosed that the 2013 low execution rate was attributed to the late launching of the financial year, the late arrival of the project logbook and the non mastery of the financial regime “result-based budget.”

The vice chair appealed to the administration to intervene and help curb the problem of lowest bidders as earlier stated by the MINPAT delegate in order to remedy the situation. He said that some gamblers who lack mastery of the terrain exploit the situation of lowest bidders to get contracts which they never execute and even when realized, the quality norms are not respected.

He however promised sanctions on any contractor who dares abandons his job. Presenting the execution statistics, the delegate noted that Ndian division was allocated 123 projects for 2014 and out of that number only 30 had been executed at 100% while 2 were ongoing with up to 61 still hanging.

The physical execution rate going by the delegate stands at 28.6% while the financial execution stands at 9%, a rate the participants agreed was below average. At the end of the meeting, some measures were taken to hasten the rate of contract awards and project execution rate.