The rehabilitation of Kipchoge Keino Stadium Phase 1 has been assigned to a new contractor, Gilbo Construction Ltd, after the initial contractor Weihai International Economic & Technical Cooperative ltd (WIETC) declined to resume work for non-payment by the client, Sports Kenya.
During the handing over, Sports Kenya clarified that the initial contract with WIETC will remain as is, but the company will not be implementing any job on the project since Gilbo will now be expected to carry out the remaining works, including financial and site management.
The meeting was informed that the decision to assign the contract to a new entity was to ensure that the Sh. 304.2m project that has stalled for more than four years is completed.
The stalling of the project has been detrimental to the local residents considering that Uasin Gishu County is the hub of athletics, a consultant Kimani Mathu said.
The agreement to assign the project to a new contractor was signed on December 11, 2020 in Nairobi with Haibo Yu the local legal representative for WIETC signing on behalf of the company and Hassan Ali representing Gilbo.
A representative from Sports Kenya, Maurice Nyaoke called on Gilbo to move with speed to ensure the project restarts and ends on schedule.
Gilbo convinced WIETC and Sports Kenya that they can do the job, they must hit the ground running and put mechanisms in place to work 24/7, said Nyaoke.
The new contractor said they were willing and ready to take over the site immediately and requested that they be provided with the structural and architectural drawings as well as the Bill of Quantities to enable them formulate their work programme.
A representative from Gilbo, Adan Ali requested the sub-contractors to prepare and present their work programmes so that they be integrated to ensure works proceed in tandem.
The new contractor and the present stakeholders requested Sports Kenya to ensure they promptly pay for approved certificates presented by the contractor so that the project is not unnecessarily delayed.
It is unfortunate that four years have been wasted for a project whose tender was awarded in 2017 with a completion time schedule of 14 months, said Mathu.
The Sports Kenya representatives however said they currently have no pending bills, and pledged to honour and promptly pay the new contractor after every milestone is achieved.
Nyaoke however, clarified that there was a new procedure by the new source funding the project requiring that the certificates for payment are endorsed by Public Works before any payments are made.
Gilbo was also asked to ensure that quality work is delivered with caution that substandard works or shortcuts will not be tolerated.
By Kiptanui Cherono
