By Kenfrey Kiberenge

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka will move in to the grand official residence in July – but if Treasury allocates the Sh150 million required to complete the project in the upcoming supplementary budget.

Public Works Permanent Secretary John Lonyangapuo said Italbuild Imports, the new contractor who took over the project in August 2009 after Dimken Kenya Ltd was shown the door for failing to beat several deadlines and poor workmanship, was putting the final touches on the house.

The PS said only the main building that will serve mainly as the residence is incomplete, requiring windows and finishing.

"If the VP did not have a house, we could tell him to move in as we complete the remaining work," said Lonyangapuo.

He, however, pointed out that the Government owed the contractor some money for work already done, and this had delayed the completion of the project.

"If we had the remaining money today, we could complete it by April, but without money we can only target July," explained the PS.

The construction of the VP’s house has been marred with controversy right from the day the idea was mooted.

When, for instance, the then Finance Minister David Mwiraria indicated in the 2005/2006 budget estimates that Sh1 billion would be set aside for the construction of the VP’s residence, there was public outcry, with civil society terming the proposed project a misallocation of public money.

However, the then Roads minister, Prime Minister Raila Odinga clarified that the amount had been set aside to revive all the stalled Government projects, effectively quelling the rage.

He explained that only Sh197 million was earmarked for the VP’s residence in Karen.

The contractor who was initially given the project in July 2005, Dimken Construction Company, failed to beat the January 2007 deadline prompting the ministry to extend the project period by one year.

He, however, failed to beat the new deadline and was shown the door in 2008.

In November last year, Equity Bank succeeded in its bid to have Dimken declared bankrupt after Justice Leonard Njagi ordered it wound up over a debt of Sh197 million owed to the bank and other creditors.

Advance payment

Documents filed in court by Equity bank showed advance payment guarantees to the Ministry of Public Works for Sh144 million, Sh108 million and a further Sh39 million between April 12 and 13, 2006.

Equity later sought reimbursement but the company did not honour the claim.

Dimken’s failure to complete the project within specified time led to it being categorised as stalled, a classification reserved for those projects initiated by the previous regimes but were abandoned.

Lonyangapuo said that the President later issued a directive for revival of stalled projects, with the ministry proposing a figure of Sh4.5 billion per year.

But Treasury only allocated Sh1.9 billion, which had been exhausted by November last year, according to Public Works PS.

In 2008, the ministry awarded a new tender to Itabuild Construction Company at an increased cost of Sh383 million.

"If earlier deadlines had been met, the money used would have been less than Sh200 million," the PS told The Standard on Sunday.

He said the cost of buying and transporting building materials as well as labour had increased since 2007.

"The price of steel and essential goods went up by 75 per cent. With the post-election violence, the cost of moving goods from one place to another also increased.

Besides, we also increased the scope of work t and that explains the change in the cost," he said.

Meanwhile, the PS says the Government is constructing a new office block for the President. Lonyangapuo said already, the ministry has embarked on design competition where interested candidates are required to come up with exciting drawings that would be evaluated by a panel of experts.

Winning design

"Soon we will get experts to sit with Head of Civil Service to announce the winning design. It must be a state-of-the-art office. That is when we shall start the valuation to ascertain the cost," said Lonyangapuo.

The new Harambee House will sit on a five-acre piece of land that has already been identified in Nairobi’s Upperhill area.

President Kibaki operates from Harambee House along Harambee Avenue in Nairobi and his journeys to the town office usually inconvenience other motorists who have to give way. His office has also been termed as small.