21 Nov 2018

Parliament has heard that 79 contractors (suppliers) have benefited from the provision of Affirmative Action policy of 2015 under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing Development.

Responding to a question in Parliament on behalf of Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development, Assistant Minister of Trade, Investment and Industry Mr Goya said the total amount procured for 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years were P249 348 and P306 081 respectively.

Regarding the Reservation of Maintenance Projects, 73 projects were reserved for youth contractors for the financial year 2015/16 for which 67 contractors were engaged at a total value of P53 million with some having been awarded more than one projects and able to employ 977 youths.

He said that for financial year 2016/17 a total of 27 projects were awarded to youth companies at a total cost of P88 million employing approximately 555 employees and 13 of these projects were awarded through ESP being mainly Health Staff Houses across the country.

On the other hand, Mr Goya said that for 2017/18 financial year, 14 projects were awarded to 13 companies at a total amount of P17 million employing proximately 181 people.

He said that in terms of Price Preference, the ministry had realised over time that youth contractors do not win tenders under the provision of affirmative action as they compete with more experienced bidders.

“We have taken a deliberate action to be more skewed towards reservation policies as the youth compete against the youth, which gives certainty that the winning bid will be that of a youth contractor,” he said.

He noted that having realised this gap in their performance, the ministry of infrastructure conducted workshops for youth contractors to up-skill them.

On the other hand, he said that since 2009, youth companies’ directors had been trained in different construction industry topics such as procurement, tendering, project management and contract administration including financial management, performance bonds and mobilisation guarantee, mentoring by well-established local and international contractors as well as registration of professionals.

He said that the lowest amount of P45 was paid in 2018/19 and the highest amount being P34 803 for 2017/18 financial year and in respect of the maintenance and development projects, the lowest amount is P1 132 for 2015/16 and the highest being P14 million for 2016/17 financial year.

Specially Elected MP Mr Mephato Reatile had asked the minister to state the names and numbers of youths that had benefited from his ministry including parastatal organisations  and independent departments under the Government Policy Reforms of 2015: Affirmative Action in favour of youth in reservation of Micro Procurement, Reservation on Maintenance and Price Preference.

Mr Reatile also wanted to know the lowest amount awarded for each tender. ENDS