CAPITAL PROJECTS TO COST TAXPAYERS E8BN MORE

MANZINI – Over E8 billion will have to be footed by taxpayers over the upcoming years, as government has been less prudent in its expenditure.

The capital projects, which have seen the taxpayers having to pay additional amounts, include the construction of the Mbadlane – Manzini Public Road, Sicunusa–Nhlangano Public Road, International Convention Centre and the Five Star Hotel. They also include various amounts, which have been paid for projects such as the rehabilitation of the National Handicraft Training Centre (NHTC) and Co-operative Development Training Centre (CODEC). There is also the rehabilitation of a factory shell that is currently not serving its intended purpose.
The highway connects the two cities (Mbabane and Manzini) of the country to King Mswati III (KMIII) International Airport at Sikhuphe, in the Lubombo Region and it is about a 30 kilometres (km) highway road, which is divided into two lots.

Lot One starts near Moneni and ends at Mphandze, and is about 12.6km long. Lot Two covers the distance between Mphandze and Mbadlane. In 2015, Eswatini signed a 20-year loan of E160 million with the Kuwait Fund to finance the construction of the Manzini-Mbadlane Highway. This was the third loan from the Kuwait Fund, which had previously provided two loans amounting to about US$23.144 million (about E263 million).  The delay in the completion of the Manzini Golf Course Interchange, among other things, hit hard on the taxpayers as government paid more than the planned E423 million.

This is because government signed a re-measurable contract with the contractor, Stefanutti Stocks,  not a fixed-term contract. According to sources, government paid the contractor extra money due to the delay in the completion of the project, among other things.  Apart from this expenditure, it has been reported before that E245.42 million for a project titled: ‘Construction of Link Road to Sikhuphe Airport’ was mired in controversy.Government spent E1.57 billion (E1 576 648 000) of taxpayers’ money on the project when it was completed in the financial year 2019/2020. Despite the fact that the project was marked ‘completed’ in the previous financial year, government’s financial books show that E245.42 million was withdrawn to finance the very project, which was thought to have been completed.

Expenditure

It was reported that as a result, costs escalated to E1.822 billion as at March 31, 2020, against the expenditure of E1.57 billion that had been incurred by March 31, 2019, when the books were closed for this project. It must be said that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport was within budget limits when the project was completed in the financial year 2019/2020.
This was due to the fact that the total estimated cost for the project was E1.645 billion (E1 645 568 000) and it had utilised E1.57 billion by then.

It is not clear why and where the ministry used the money because there was no request for additional funding made in that financial year. A dual carriageway road from the airport to Mbadlane was also financed with a portion of this money. However, the utilised E1.82 billion does not involve financing of the upgrading of Mbadlane to Manzini Road, as it has a separate budget.

The KMIII project has so far cost E4.2 billion (E4 200 947 000). The budget limit is E4.41 billion (E4 414 947 000). The infrastructural spin-offs from the airport have cost E1.96 billion. The spin-offs are the construction of the Manzini-Mpandze dual carriageway highway, which has cost E632 990 000. Its budget limit is E1.028 billion. This has been classified as Lot One of the project. Lot Two is the construction of the Mpandze - Mbadlane Highway, which has taken E1.32 billion (E1 329 911 000) from the public purse. The budget limit for Lot Two is E2.39 billion (E2 394 998 000). In total, the construction of the airport and supporting infrastructure have so far cost about E8 billion.

Meanwhile, after E596 million went to waste, government engaged in a forensic audit to establish whether high-ranking government officials or politicians did not influence the selection/evaluation process of contractors.The money was spent on the Nhlangano – Sicunusa Public Road,  (MR 13), which is 37.5 km and an additional five kilometres from Gege to Gege Border Post. This road had to be constructed with two bridges, which are the Mkhondvo River Bridge and the Ndlotane River Bridge. The former consists of a 153.05 metres long, six-span reinforced concrete deck/ precast beam type bridge with 25.5 metres long spans, while the latter was to be 76.5 metres long, three-span reinforced concrete precast beam with 25.5 metres long spans.

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