6 firms fail to deliver in Marep 9

By Wezzie Gausi:

The Ministry of Energy has disclosed that six firms that were part of companies that won tenders to supply items under the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (Marep) 9 have failed to deliver supplies.

On January 12 this year, Secretary for Energy Alfonso Chikuni told the Parliamentary Cluster on Agriculture and Natural Resources that firms were failing to deliver Marep 9 supplies despite receiving 30 percent advance payment.

And, speaking to The Daily Times Wednesday, Chikuni said out of the 31 firms that were contracted to supply items, six have completely failed to deliver.

Chikuni said the ministry will be giving the contracts to other companies among the ones that have managed to supply their items.

“According to procurement procedures, it is allowed to give contracts to other companies among those that are already contracted.

“Of course, these companies already received advance payment of the money but we will make sure that we recover the money,” Chikuni said.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change Chairperson Werani Chilenga has said it is unfortunate that some companies have failed to deliver.

“We, as a committee, are not happy with the development, bearing in mind that 30 percent of the money was already given,” Chilenga said.

In 2021, the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) ordered the Ministry of Energy to restart the procurement process for the supply of materials under the ninth phase of Marep.

On June 23 2021, ACB stopped the Ministry of Energy from issuing a contract to supply Marep Phase 9 materials under contract number 047/ MoE-Marep-PH9-G-NCB- 2020/2021FY-08.