PPADB rejects Serule road cost increase
Innocent Selatlhwa | Tuesday March 29, 2022 06:00
The budget increase request was for a contract for the Procurement of Construction of Mabeleapudi-Tshimoyapula-Serule Road set to go up from P427,552,601.34 to P514,450,115.06. Construction of the road, undertaken by Unik Construction Engineering, started in October 2018 and was completed mid-2021. The road, which was part of the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP), was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic regulations and other factors, which led it to stretch beyond the initially stipulated period.
The contract period was initially 24 months' construction and 12 months' defect liability period. The contract works include construction of approximately 62.02km of road to bitumen standard and associated drainage structures; construction of a 60m long three-span bridge, including ancillary works such as erosion protection and river training across Mabeleapudi River on the Mabeleapudi-Tshimoyapula section of the road; construction of approximately 6.1km of access roads to both Tshimoyapula Kgotla and Serule Kgotla.
Even though he had not responded to questions from this publication by press time, in a similar questionnaire for previously rejected retro-approval requests, PPADB Public Relations and Education Manager Charles Keikotlhae said this happens when “the request for retroactive approval was not in line with Section 44 (2) and (3) of the PPAD Act as read with Section 3 of the PPAD (Retroactive Approvals) Order of 2012, which state that the Board may by resolution approve retroactively, a bid or invitation to tender issued by a procuring or a disposing entity where the job to be performed by a selected contractor or the service to be provided by a selected service provider is urgent and necessary - (a) to protect life or (b) to protect the environment." He said anything else would mean proper procurement procedures.
According to Keikotlhae, following the disapproval of the request by the Board, the procuring entity would be referred to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MFED) to facilitate payment. “The prerogative to effect payment for procurements that have failed to meet requirements under the above-cited provisions of the PPAD Act lies with the said ministry. Besides explanation for the construction of the road, The Monitor wanted to establish from PPADB as to why they still receive many retro-approvals, which they end up rejecting. MFED was also yet to respond to queries as to under which circumstances do they pay and explain the process.