The controversy heightened when Kimunya cancelled the tender claiming that it could lead to loss of public money.
The Greenfield project, which will see the airport handle an extra 12 million travellers annually, was approved by the KAA board on March 9, 2011 after it presented a master plan to the Transport Ministry.
The now controversial tender was advertised on June 24, 2011 and attracted three Kenyan companies, 12 Chinese firms, four European and three from other African countries -.
But the number was limited by the stringent requirements; that they had to have constructed at least one similar airport in the previous 10 years, designed one in the previous five years, constructed a similar size facility in the previous five years and have a minimum business turnover of $200 million in the previous five years.
They were also required to present a bid bond of Sh300 million, a form of assurance from a bank that they were capable of executing the contract.
The Kenya Airports Authority – which has always supported the cancellation insists that the tender lacked supporting documents such as a written agreement between the tendering board and the contractor which is against section 68 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act which states that “No contract is formed between the person submitting the successful tender and the procuring entity until a written contract is entered.”
Board members of KAA will now – appear- before three parliamentary committees on Thursday to express their concerns over the PPOA ruling.
The parliamentary committees include that on Finance – Budget and – Transport.
“We cannot just go signing the contracts anyhow. We should be sure that complaints from all stakeholders are included. This is a serious matter,” Wambora added.
The three committees had been directed by the Speaker Kenneth Marende to probe the matter and report back to Parliament within 14 days.
In the meantime, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission had received a complaint that the tendering process was flawed.
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