Contractor abandons cop shop
The police have taken over a construction project at Ruacana that has been stalled for six years.
The Namibian Police's maintenance division has taken over the construction of the Oshifo police station at Ruacana in the Omusati Region from AMA Engineering and Construction, which failed to deliver.
Construction of the N$27.8 million C-class police station that started in 2012 has been stalled for about six years following a dispute between the ministry of safety and security and AMA Engineering and Construction.
The company was awarded a tender to build the police station in 2011. Construction started in 2012 and was expected to be completed by the end of March 2014.
According to the auditor-general's report of 2016, in 2012 the ministry budgeted N$27.83 million for the project to be completed by March 2014. By 31 March 2015, about N$21.65 million had been spent on the project although it was not completed. According to a Nampol spokesperson, Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi, the police were not happy with the work done by AMA Engineering and Construction and ordered them to stop.
“The contractor was not delivering to the agreed standards and specifications. We were not happy with their work and we decided to stop them. We replaced the contractor with another contractor and our own contractors from the maintenance division,” Shikwambi said.
She said Nampol contractors were also completing construction work at the Omusati regional police headquarters at Outapi, where another contractor had failed to deliver.
AMA Engineering and Construction owner Peter Kanu Amadhila refused to comment.
“I will not answer you on that, we are closed for the festive season,” Amadhila said when contacted.
Currently the police at Ruacana are operating from a poorly equipped satellite police station.
The new police station, once completed, will have offices, holding cells, barracks that can accommodate 30 officers, and a mortuary.
ILENI NANDJATO
Construction of the N$27.8 million C-class police station that started in 2012 has been stalled for about six years following a dispute between the ministry of safety and security and AMA Engineering and Construction.
The company was awarded a tender to build the police station in 2011. Construction started in 2012 and was expected to be completed by the end of March 2014.
According to the auditor-general's report of 2016, in 2012 the ministry budgeted N$27.83 million for the project to be completed by March 2014. By 31 March 2015, about N$21.65 million had been spent on the project although it was not completed. According to a Nampol spokesperson, Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi, the police were not happy with the work done by AMA Engineering and Construction and ordered them to stop.
“The contractor was not delivering to the agreed standards and specifications. We were not happy with their work and we decided to stop them. We replaced the contractor with another contractor and our own contractors from the maintenance division,” Shikwambi said.
She said Nampol contractors were also completing construction work at the Omusati regional police headquarters at Outapi, where another contractor had failed to deliver.
AMA Engineering and Construction owner Peter Kanu Amadhila refused to comment.
“I will not answer you on that, we are closed for the festive season,” Amadhila said when contacted.
Currently the police at Ruacana are operating from a poorly equipped satellite police station.
The new police station, once completed, will have offices, holding cells, barracks that can accommodate 30 officers, and a mortuary.
ILENI NANDJATO
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