Somalia: Partners will provide means to ensure quality of the project, says GIZ official [Interview]

GAROWE, Puntland- The Sustainable Road Maintenance Project (SRMP) came under close scrutiny in the past weeks, after surfaced allegation of rigged bidding process by Puntland Highway Authority (PHA) and Puntland Tendering Committee to award an associated company the contract.

The project is considered the second biggest project to be implemented in Puntland region in the past 25 years and reported to cost over $ 6 Million, sponsored by the European Union (EU) and Germany through a Germany-based organization, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

But during a press conference in Garowe city, GIZ denied any fraud in the bidding process and said it launched an independent investigation into the entire tendering process by international audits.

In a recent inquiry by GO over the phone, GIZ official, Christoph Schmidt, declined to give comments on the ongoing investigation but noted the winning tender will be announced after the conclusion of the ongoing investigation

However, GO has conducted an interview with Schmidt to give us more details on the issues surrounding the progress of the project.   

Q: During the past government, the original fund allocated for the rehabilitation project for the entire damaged sections of Galkayo-Garowe corridor was $ 25 Million, but under the current government, the budget is set for $ 8 Million for the 80 km between Jalam and Harfo, is the remaining funds suspended or will be released later?

A: GIZ SRMP cannot comment on the budget for the upcoming rehabilitation works as the tender process has not been concluded yet. However, the project budget remains unchanged: The “Sustainable Road Maintenance Project” implements its activities on behalf of the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on the federal level of Somalia, in Somaliland and in Puntland. The overall budget for this project was from the beginning and remains € 20,74 Million as publicly announced in Puntland during the project’s validation workshop in Garowe in December 2015. The focus of the project is capacity development in the road transport sector in all three above mentioned entities. Actual road rehabilitation is only one part of our activities towards legislative, administrative and technical capacity development for stakeholders in the road transportation sectors. As a result, not the entire budget can be used for rehabilitation works. Roughly 50% of the overall budgets are planned for road rehabilitation works in Somaliland and Puntland.

Q: Do you think the local companies have the capacity or experience to implement such projects ? Already we know that some of these companies haven’t managed properly similar projects implemented in Puntland cities, those projects either poorly executed or the funds were misappropriated.

A: The implementing partners PHA and GIZ have developed a set of more than eighty (80) technical and administrative criteria to assess the existing capacity of bidders. We are convinced, that every company that has passed the set thresholds is potentially able to conduct the works in question and to provide the required quality. However, we also see existing weaknesses. Otherwise a capacity-building approach would not be necessary. The objective remains unchanged: The implementing partners will provide means, trainings and supervisory staff to make sure the quality requirements will be implemented and the involved companies will improve their capacity to execute large-scale projects even better after the duration of the ongoing project.

Q: We received information that your organization are doing Social awareness program in Burtinle, Jalam and Harfo to mobilize local people to support the project, and paid $ 500,000 to Care International organization to implement the project. What’s the reason for your organization to pay that amount from the fund allocated to build the road, known that Puntland people already aware of the significant value of the project?

A: The “Sustainable Road Maintenance Project” jointly with PHA plans community awareness campaigns along the road to be rehabilitated. The objective is to create awareness and acceptance amongst beneficiaries in order to ensure support for the project and safety for our staff members during the works. SRMP will implement this activity together with a local Puntland NGO, not with Care International. Moreover, the budget for this activity is far below 10% of the figure raised in your question. The required financial resources for this activity will come from the overall project budget, not from the budget for the intended road rehabilitation works.

Q: We have other information that your organization’s previous name was GTZ and used to operate in Qardho town before the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991, is it possible that this project will be the start back of your organization’s operation in Puntland ?

A: As the project manager SRMP I cannot comment on ongoing, intended or past activities of GIZ in Puntland.

Q: What is the role of GIZ after the announcement of the company that won the tender? Is GIZ going to have a direct role in supervising the project, are there any experts going to monitor the construction of the road throughout the project?

A: The entire rehabilitation works will be supervised by PHA staff trained by GIZ. Moreover, GIZ will have permanently own staff including engineers on the ground to assist PHA in supervision of works and to train both, PHA staff and staff employed by private company. We believe that on-the-job-training during an actual project is the best way to achieve sustainable results leading to an improved road transportation sector in Puntland and make the sector less dependent on international assistance in future.

GAROWEONLINE