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IBB's airport contract still under scrutiny
IBB's airport contract still under scrutiny

IBB's airport contract still under scrutiny

A court case in which the Namibia Airports Company is seeking to overturn a contract awarded by its previous board will go ahead next week.
Catherine Sasman
Egyptian-owned IBB Military Equipment and Accessory Supplies has failed in its bid to stop the Namibia Airports Company's court application to nullify an agreement on the upgrading of the Eros and Hosea Kutako airport terminal buildings.

The NAC had approached the High Court to declare that there is no binding and enforceable agreement between itself and IBB Military for the exorbitant upgrades.

It asked the court to set aside the purported exemption decision which landed IBB Military the N$156 million tender, and also asked for an order to set aside the purported award letter.

IBB Military countered by saying that the NAC's court application was premised on wrongdoing and unlawful actions of the NAC itself.

IBB Military said with its own wrongdoing as a basis for its relief, the NAC launched a review application in which it sought to set aside its own decisions.

It also said the NAC had not filed its answering affidavit as had been stipulated by a court order on 1 December 2017.

The High Court on Friday ruled that NAC's non-compliance with the court order of 1 December 2017 was condoned. The case was postponed until 13 September.



Background

The previous board of the NAC, under the chairpersonship of Ndeuhala Katonyala-Lewis, exempted IBB Military from the parastatal's tender procedures and awarded it the tender for the upgrades.

These upgrades included the design, supply and installation of check-in counters (at a cost of €2.8 million), seats (€432 015), trolleys (€323 350), CCTV cameras (€340 000), communication systems (€2.3 million), conveyor belts for all counters (€1.4 million), safety equipment and architectural design (€490 000), and cost of supervision of foreign and local labour (€1.2 million).

The new board, under the chairpersonship of Rogers Kauta, countered this lucrative tender award, arguing that the exemption decision could only have been made in terms of the NAC's prescribed tender procedure and on recommendation of its tender and technical committee.

The new board maintained that there was no justification for such an exemption, saying the decision should be set aside.

It said no facts were placed before the previous board to make the purported exemption decision and that the previous board did not apply its mind when the tender award was made.

Alternatively, it was argued that the purported exemption decision did not award the upgrade tender to IBB Military, but merely permitted the NAC to treat it as the preferred bidder, whereafter the NAC should have followed the applicable tender procedures.

Former NAC CEO Tamer El-Kallawi in June 2016 wrote a letter to IBB in which he said IBB Military had been appointed for the job, but the new NAC board countered that there was no enforceable agreement in place.

The new NAC board said a draft agreement drawn up by IBB Military did not stipulate the scope of services and patently left open a number of material provisions that still had to be agreed upon while simply pricing the job at over

€9 million.

CATHERINE SASMAN

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-29

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 36° Rundu: 19° | 29° Eenhana: 19° | 29° Oshakati: 21° | 30° Ruacana: 20° | 33° Tsumeb: 19° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 17° | 30° Henties Bay: 16° | 20° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:24, Low Tide: 23:26, High tide: 17:46 Swakopmund: 16° | 17° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:44 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:21, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:43 Rehoboth: 19° | 30° Mariental: 23° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 35° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 35° Oranjemund: 14° | 25° Luanda: 27° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 26° Mbabane: 16° | 21° Maseru: 11° | 29° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 27° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 28° Durban: 20° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 20° | 30° Harare: 16° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.76 | EUR to NAD 20.35 | CNY to NAD 2.61 | USD to NAD 18.88 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.77 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.14 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.88 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53%