The Kenya International Convention Centre (KICC) is battling a case in court after being sued by a contractor for Kshs 800 mn over a failed contract for the installation of prefabricated conference rooms.
The company, Parbat Siyani Construction Limited, wants to be paid Kshs 339 million as compensation for the steps it had undertaken towards the implementation of the project. The company claims that it had been invited for a formal contract signing on 27th May, 2019 after negotiations and presentation of the proposed design. The validity of the tender was 180 days.
Surprisingly, on 8th April, 2020, more than a year later, the contractor received communication from KICC informing them that they could not proceed with the contract due to unavoidable circumstances. No further information was provided.
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The company told the court that KICC was in breach of the contractor’s right to fair administrative action and legitimate expectation that contract would have been formalized as required under Sections 134 and 135 of the Pubic Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
On the other hand, KICC argued that the due process, laws and regulations that are mentioned in the quoted act were followed in procuring and eventual cancellation of the proposed tender. KICC continued to argue that the company had not communicated why it took so long to file the petition in court from the date of the award tender.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel for Parbat Siyani Construction Limited after Justice Mrima ruled that there is a case to be heard.
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