Cost of Kenya's Vice President’s house doubles to Sh380m

• Contractor kicked out for shoddy job, but Kenyans will now pay twice as much

The cost of building an official residence for Kenya's Vice-President has doubled to Sh383 million after the original contractor was fired for delays and poor workmanship.

A new contractor, Italbuild Imports, has been named to complete the job after Public Works ministry kicked out Dimken Kenya Ltd.

Public Works minister Chris Obure confirmed that Italbuild had been awarded the contract and would move to the site soon.

Defended increase

The company got the job after bidding the lowest, at Sh383 million against Ongata Works at Sh383.3 million; Njuca Consolidated at Sh392 million; and Dinesh Construction at Sh419 million.

The original contract was for Sh197 million. The ministry’s public relations officer, Mr Ali Chege, defended the new tender price, saying the previous contractor had done only 30 per cent of the work before being stopped.

Speaking on behalf of the minister, Mr Chege defended the cost escalation, telling the Nation that prices for cement, paint and labour had since 2005 increased by about 75 per cent.

He also said some parts of the completed building would be demolished and built afresh because of poor and defective workmanship. He, however, did not explain why the contractor did a shoddy job in spite of supervision of ministry engineers and architects.

Dimken managing director Dick Githaiga declined to comment on the job being awarded to another contractor, but revealed that he had sought arbitration over his company’s termination.

“We are in arbitration with the ministry over that contract and I cannot be seen discussing it with the media,” Mr Githaiga said.

Document shows that the government has paid Dimken Sh69.9 million as certified payment for 80 per cent of the work done, when, it turns out, only 30 per cent had been done.

Mr Chege also defended inclusion in the new costs of items that had already been bought or completed by the previous contractor.

The Bills of Quantities in the tender document includes the cost of roofing (the house is already roofed), Sh3 million for a generator (which was purchased by the previous contractor) and Sh2 million for connecting electricity, which is already on site.

Other costs include Sh17 million for plumbing and drainage works, Sh7 million for drilling a borehole, Sh6.4 million for landscaping and Sh60 million for civil works.

The ministry, however, says that the entire roof will be brought down and built afresh.