Times Of Swaziland: PARLY, CABINET IN E900M PROJECT STANDOFF

PARLY, CABINET IN E900M PROJECT STANDOFF
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BY MFANUKHONA NKAMBULE on 14/12/2014 08:22:00


MBABANE – Cabinet ministers are desperately making attempts, behind the
scenes, to lobby MPs to urgently reconvene to pass the E900 million loan Bill
for the Strategic Oil Reserve Facility Project to be built in Phuzamoya.  This
follows the deferment of the E900 million Bill for the project by Members of
Parliament (MPs) on Wednesday.
The House of Assembly postponed the debate of the Bill, questioning the closed
tendering system used to engage Kantey and Templer (Pty) Limited to construct
the fuel reservoir.
MPs are unhappy that other companies were not engaged, through an open tendering
system, to bid for the multimillion project.
The Times SUNDAY got information that rumours started circulating before the
Bill was piloted on Wednesday that “there was more than meet eye” in the
whole deal.
Suspicion reac- hed high levels when the MPs learnt that a closed tendering
system was used to engage the South African company to embark on the project.
The nature of the suspicions cannot be repeated for now.
After punching holes in the E900 Million Loan Bill, they then surfed the
internet to investigate the business profile of the company.
Internet information, according to the MPs, helped them establish that it was a
consulting engineering company.
They then wondered why a consulting engineer – and not a contractor - was
engaged to set up the structure and why Jabulile Mashwama, the Minister of
Natural Resources and Energy, introduced a consulting engineering company to
KaMkhweli residents.
With researched information at their disposal, one MP said, they were ready for
any minister who was to motivate the Bill.
This included the prime minister.
“Luckily, the prime minister showed up on Wednesday and we took him head on
because we had collected facts about the project. We know more, which we cannot
reveal now,” said the MP.