farmer |
Responding to the
Namibian Sun article on Monday titled "NCA farmers in limbo," Mutorwa
said before the signing of the agreement in August 2016, his ministry,
contracted Burmeister & Partners Consulting Engineers to do the
technical evaluation and inspection of both Oshakati and Katima Mulilo
abattoirs. "Upon receipt of the Burmeister & Partners report, the
Ministry of Works and Transport, through the office of the Permanent
Secretary, was and remains ready to appoint a contractor to do the work
required at the two abattoirs as the matter of extreme urgency," he
explained in a media statement.
According to
Mutorwa Burmeister & Partners completed their work on time as per
schedule and admitted a report. He said the Ministry of Work and
Transport (MWT) through Goeiemann intervened and advised that the
contractor cannot and may not be appointed solely on the basis of the
Burmeister & Partners report.
"They insisted that
the MWT's engineers must do their own technical evaluation on the basis
of which contractors can and may then be appointed to do the necessary
repair work," he said. Mutorwa said the delaying tactics have been
played and continue to be played since September 2016 despite the
Ministry of Agriculture protesting and in the process thousands of
Northern Communal Farmers continue to suffer. "Why can't the Ministry of
Works speed up the work?" asked Mutorwa.
"We have budgeted
for the needed repair work to be done, so it is not a question of
money," he said. When contacted for comment yesterday, Goeiemann said
his ministry submitted the bill of quantities to the Ministry of
Agriculture last week Friday.
"We have done our work. The ball in now in the Ministry of Agriculture," said Goeiemann yesterday.
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