Ms Siliya said in Lusaka that Italian company, Selex Sistemi Integriti
had not been awarded a contract for the supply, delivery, installation
and commissioning of radar equipment at the two airports as reported in
the media.
She said in a statement issued yesterday that the radar tender was
still in process though her office had received a number of complaints
of alleged corruption by some of her officers.
She said the complaints to her office had also been sent to the
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) regarding the tender for the
procurement of the radar systems for the two airports.
The correct position is that Selex requested to repair at their own
cost the facility in Lusaka and we have given them an opportunity to do
so as they manufactured, supplied and installed the current facility at
Lusaka International Airport.
While the procurement of radars for Livingstone and Lusaka was still
in process, we received an offer from Selex to repair the Lusaka
facility, the minister said.
She said bearing in mind the budget limitations and the fact that the
Government would not spend anything, it was decided in consultation
with the Department of Civil Aviation, National Airports Corporation
(NAC) and the Finance ministry to accept the offer.
Infact, there is no provision in the 2009 yellow book for the
procurement of any radar in the ministry of Communications and
Transport budget.
Should the repair of the radar at the Lusaka International Airport by
Selex be successful, Government and the nation would have saved K50
billion on the Lusaka and Livingstone radar requirements, Ms Siliya
said.
She said Selex on January 30, 2009 sent their engineer to undertake the
assessment and actual repair work was expected to start this week and
be completed by mid-March, 2009.
In a letter dated December 4, 2008 to Ms Siliya, Selex vice-president
for Middle East and Africa, Domenico Lovino offered the free repair of
the existing radar head which the company manufactured.
In fact, Selex has always been willing to promptly answer NAC
requests for any kind of technical support but too many problems in the
past prevented us from performing maintenance, including lack of
funds, Mr Lovino said.
In the letter which is copied to the then Permanent Secretary, Eustace
Mambwe, Mr Lovino asked the Government to grant the Selex engineering
team access to the Lusaka radar installation to perform the necessary
work.
He said the maintenance would take an estimated two weeks and Selex
would then commission the equipment with one year additional warranty
at no cost, while spares would also be granted for an additional five
years.