Hertta-Maria Amutenja
The Okahao Veterinary Clinic, which is located in the Omusati Region, has still not become operational even though its construction began in 2015.
The Ministry of Works and Transport assigned the project to ID Building Contractors, and construction started in May 2015.
The construction work was finished in May 2018, which included the clinic building as well as staff accommodation quarters.
The building stood idle for years.
In 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform said the building could not be occupied because of inadequate funds to install the necessary equipment in the clinic.
Over the years, the condition of the building started to deteriorate.
On Tuesday, the ministry spokesperson, Simon Nghipandulwa, confirmed that the construction site was handed over to August 26 to fix the damaged buildings.
“The project will be completed in this financial year. The building is already complete; they just need to fix the damage. All the equipment has already been bought and is on site. Only medication still needs to be bought,” he said.
Nghipandulwa stated that the inactivity of the clinic was the result of a dispute between the agriculture ministry and the previous contractor, who refused to hand over the site.
He could, however, not confirm the tender amount awarded to the Namibian Defence Force-linked company, August 26.
A local resident, Johannes Ampwiyu, expressed his frustration about the situation.
“It is unacceptable that this building has been standing idle for so long. This is taxpayers’ money being wasted. We deserve better accountability and proper use of our resources,” he said.
He is hopeful that the clinic will be operational soon, adding that the government often makes empty promises.
“I hope they finish the building soon. It could create job opportunities in our community. But the government often makes empty promises, so we will just have to wait and see,” he said.
The acting chief executive officer of the Central Procurement Board of Namibia, Amon Ngavetene, said one of the issues that has affected the performance of contractors, especially with construction tenders, is the payment by public entities.
“The public entities only make payments after they have made sure that there is progress in the work. The actual contract is monitored by the public entity,” he said.
Ngavetene said this during an update on CPBN’s procurement activities for the financial year 2023–2024.
He revealed that the board awarded 32 procurement projects to 92 different companies for the financial year 2023-2024.
These projects amounted to N$8.1 billion, he said.
