WINDHOEK – The Roads Authority on Thursday emerged victorious in the High Court against Chinese construction company New Era Investment that contested the award of a N$219 million tender to another company.
High Court Acting Judge Collins Parker ruled in favour of the Roads Authority, saying the decision not to award the company the tender to construct the RA’s head office was based on “sound and rational considerations”.
New Era Investment’s application was dismissed with costs. In his judgement, Parker ruled that the Roads Authority had applied the evaluation factors equally during the evaluation process. Parker ruled that New Era Investment was thus not prejudiced in any way.
The judgement further states that New Era Investment failed to show that the Roads Authority acted unfairly or unreasonably, that it did not apply its mind when it considered the tenders it received and decided which tender bid to accept, that it took into account irrelevant considerations, or that the Roads Authority had been biased when it did not accept New Era Investment’s tender bid.
Said Conrad Lutombi, Chief Executive Officer of the Roads Authority, in a statement issued after the judgement: “The Roads Authority as a state owned entity places a high premium on sound and transparent corporate governance. The Roads Authority will continue to ensure that competent and suitable contractors and/or consultants are appointed in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with the Roads Authority Tender Procurement Policy.”
In January this year New Era Investment lodged an urgent application against the Roads Authority, Namibia Construction and two other Chinese-owned construction companies in an attempt to get the High Court to set aside the Roads Authority’s decision to choose Namibia Construction to build the Roads Authority head office.
By Edgar Brandt