Chinese firm wins court bid over N$7b airport tender The government was dealt a heavy blow on Friday when it lost a legal battle against a Chinese construction company over the cancellation of a tender for the expansion of Hosea Kutako International Airport.President Hage Geingob ordered the cancellation of the N$7 billion airport tender in December 2015, and this decision prompted the winning bidder, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group, to challenge the decision in the High Court on 11 February 2016.
Judge Shafimana Ueitele handed down the ruling.
“The instructions purportedly given under section 9 (1) (b) of the Airports Company Act of 1998 by the Minister of Works and Transport Alpheus !Naruseb to the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) to discontinue all activities relating to the upgrade and expansion of the Hosea Kutako International Airport road during December 2015 and communicated to the applicant (Anhui Foreign Economic Construction) on 5 January 2016, are unlawful and therefore invalid and set aside,” reads the order of the court.
The government suffered another setback on Friday when the High Court dismissed its counter-application in the matter.
The government was then ordered to foot the legal bills of the construction company, which include the cost of one instructing attorney and one instructed counsel, on top of having to pay its own legal costs.
The four respondents were !Naruseb, Geingob, the NAC and Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein.
Nazeer Cassim (Senior Counsel) represented Anhui on instructions from Tjombe-Elago local law firm and was assisted by Werner Boesak.
Sisa Namandje acted on behalf of the government on instructions from the office of the government attorney.
- Nampa