Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Municipal Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council has re-advertised its contentious parking management system tender nine years after it first called for bids to implement the system which could see millions of dollars being poured into the local authority’s coffers.
So prickly has been the process to implement a parking management system that three different batches of councillors have unsuccessfully tried to implement it, in all cases both management and councillors will be baying for each other’s blood with all pushing for their preferred candidates.
In the latest development, the city’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube last Sunday flighted an advertisement in the local media calling for expressions of interests from companies for the designing and installation of the parking management system.
“The city of Bulawayo wishes to engage suitably qualified and experienced firms relating to the design and installation of a parking management system. The City of Bulawayo now invites eligible firms to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested firms should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services. Short-listed bidders will be invited to submit detailed technical and financial proposals as described in Part 1 of the Request for Proposals Procedures in the Standard Request for Proposals for the Selection of Consultancy Services. A non-compulsory tender briefing will be held on 31 January, 2020 at 10am at the sixth-floor conference room, Municipal Tower block,” reads the notice.
However, the developments come at a time when Bulawayo councillors were engaged in a tug-of-war turf war with the town clerk over the same tender after the previous council had shortlisted two Harare-based companies, Duscretion Logistics Private Limited and Lauvax Trading Private Limited trading as ProPark — in the provision of a parking management system in the city.
Councillors failed to force management to implement the resolution leading to them at one point to order the mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni to pen a motion forcing council management to implement the resolution.
In his submissions, Clr Mguni however, expressed reluctance in siding with the councillors revealing that there were a number of issues that needed to be looked at before he endorsed the resolution. He said the danger in rushing to implement the resolution would result in the local authority facing more litigation from companies that had been unfairly excluded.
Before the episode, the local authority was also embroiled in a six-year-long legal battle with Megalithic, which was challenging the initial cancellation of the tender.
At one point then Ward Six Councillor, who is now Makokoba Member of Parliament, Alderman James Sithole filed a motion where he noted that the local authority should re-tender the project to help enhance revenue collection and service delivery.
In his motion, Ald Sithole noted that if the system is put in place, council would go a long way in addressing the problem of traffic congestion which the city was currently experiencing.
“In an effort to boost revenue for the City of Bulawayo, we flighted a tender more than six years ago for Parking Management Services from reputable companies. Due to some irregularities in the process this matter ended up in the courts . . . Bulawayo City Council has therefore lost several opportunities such as 400 jobs that could have been created, meaning the survival of 400 households and parking revenue in the region of $10 million.
“I propose that council proceeds as a matter of urgency to re-tender for the parking management services since the legal wrangle has been concluded so that we can achieve revenue enhancement and improved service delivery,” reads part of the motion.
The initial bidding process brought the city’s tendering system under scrutiny, with accusations of corruption among councillors and directors flying around. First, Easipark, the South African company that was favourite to clinch the parking deal, was disqualified on allegations of attempting to bribe members of the procurement board to swing the bid in its favour.
The company was readmitted and the tendering process re-done after consultations among stakeholders.
Easipark was disqualified again, after it failed to attend a compulsory tender briefing meeting, which then saw Megalithic being awarded the tender.
derick.khumalo