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Isles, port builder lock horns
2006-11-10 09:06:44
By Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar
The construction of a new Zanzibar port has been suspended after the government, the contractor and funding agency, the European Union differed on the technicalities of the work.
Originally, the project was scheduled to be ready by November 22, this year, but the deadline was extended after the two sides failed to agree on certain technicalities.
While the government insists on the construction of an anchorage-style port, the contractor had already put up a new dockside.
Sources say the government had earlier instructed the contractor to construct a landing stage but changed its mind and asked the contractor to set up an anchorage instead.
In an unexpected development, the Zanzibar government has put to a stop the on-going construction works, and advised the contractor to revert to the building of an anchorage.
It is almost three months now since the construction of the jetty, which was already at advanced stage, was temporarily suspended.
The controversy has locked the government and the Danish contractor in a protracted row that has seen the contractor threaten to opt out if the government will not resolve the issue within 14-days.
The dispute drags in the European Union, which is financing the project.
The Union Minister of Finance, Zakia Meghji, has intervened and asked the contractor not to opt out of the contract. The local media recently quoted the minister as saying that she had already faxed a letter to the contractors.
The Zanzibar government, European Union and the contractor’s representatives met recently and agreed to go back to building of an anchorage port.
The closed-door meeting, which was chaired by the Zanzibar Minister of Finance and Economy, Khamis Mussa met in November this year to deliberate on the controversy.
Others in attendance were Harbours Director Mustafa Aboud Jumbe, engineers from Danish Company, Company, PHIL, Ole Alenkaer and Claus Michael Anderson, and the Director of the International Marine Science (IMS) Center in Zanzibar, Alfonso Dubi.
The European Union, the potential funding agency of the project, has agreed, in principle, to refund the costs incurred by the contractor.
”Construction has been postponed as the parties work on a new arrangement, a process that will take not less than five months,” reads part of the agreement of the closed-door meeting.
While waiting for fresh construction, the parties have agreed to conduct an environmental assessment of the project.
The Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Zanzibar Mussa Khamis, told the meeting that the government had already informed the EU about the decision.
This was confirmed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Transport, Salmin Senga.
He, however, declined to specify who would fund the additional 15bn/- project cost, but only said that the government intention was to build a standard port.
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