Lango palace works stall 16 months later

“We (CMD Investments Ltd) were contracted on January 25, 2021 by the OPM to carry out works and we subsequently mobilised at the site to begin with the preliminary works. We hoarded off the site ready to begin the major works under the contract,” the company’s managing director, Ms Christine Najjuma Sebyala, indicated in a July 15 letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Robinah Nabbanja.

The letter was also copied to the Attorney General and the executive director of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority.

“The purpose of this letter was to specifically request the attention of the addressees for their intervention to enable the execution of the delayed contract,’’ Ms Najjuma added.

She further indicated that at the time of signing the contract, the employing authority [OPM] did not attach any construction drawings though they were mentioned as documents that form part of the contract.

“The drawings that were part of the bidding documents lacked details and, therefore, could not be adopted as construction drawings. They had various inadequacies and we brought them to the attention of the employer on July 26, 2021, and clearly informed officials that we cannot proceed with works before having clear drawings,” the contractor added.

The inadequacy of the drawings was confirmed by the OPM and the appointed consultant (M/s Oubuntu Consulting Ltd). “Several meetings have been held at the OPM to resolve the issue of drawings and it is deplorable that we never received any minutes of any of the meetings and no resolution has been reached, and the employer has totally failed to issue drawings for more than 15 months. This is a frustration to the contractor,” Ms Najjuma added.

The contractor also revealed that they had written various letters to the OPM and had not received any response.

Mr John Baptist Ssenduli,  speaking on behalf of the permanent secretary at OPM, said the supervision consultant reviewed the submitted designs and it was established that there were gaps which would create challenges in project execution.  “Due to this fact, contract implementation has not progressed,” he indicated in a February 7 letter.

He added that on January 27, the OPM held a meeting with the contractor and consultant to discuss the way forward and It was resolved that a review of the contract performance is made.

In order to have effective negotiations, a meet for key stakeholders was held on February 9.  But the contractor said nothing fruitful came out of the meeting.

“We could not carry out works that are 10 times bigger than the works we quoted for at the same original contract value,” Ms Najjuma said.

She said failure by the OPM to commit itself in the contract is the major cause of the delay.

Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the OPM spokesperson, declined to comment, but referred our reporter to the minister in charge of northern Uganda, Ms Grace Kwiyucwiny. When contacted on Wednesday, the minister referred us back to OPM. 

Background

President Museveni made a pledge to construct an administration block, a cultural centre and a palace for Lango Cultural Institution at Ireda in Lira City on December 29, 2012. The OPM, the employer then, procured M/s CMD Investments Ltd as the contractor and M/s Oubuntu Consulting Ltd as the supervision consultant. An agreement for the works was signed on January 25, 2021. The intended date for works to commence was April 12, 2021 and the completion was earmarked for April 12, 2024. The contract cost was Shs3.5 billion. The site was handed over to the contractor on February 20, 2021.

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