By ELIAS CHIPEPO –

THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday slammed the shoddy works that were done by contractors ahead of Zambia’s hosting of the 2012 Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) Zone Six Youth Games.
The committee has since recommended that works be redone on the various infrastructure which was found to be defective.
The basketball, tennis, volleyball, and netball courts at National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC) in Lusaka developed deep cracks as by December 2013, a sign that the works were not done according to specifications.
It was also discovered that some works at University of Zambia (UNZA) were omitted but the Sports Ministry went ahead to issue certificate of completion.
There were defective works valued at K17, 000 on electrical fitting, resulting into cables melting in most of the rooms at UNZA.
The ministry was given K58, 479, 335,679 for rehabilitation and construction works at NASDEC, expansion of sports infrastructure at Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC), rehabilitation and upgrading of Olympic Swimming Pool, Nkoloma Stadium and hostels at UNZA ahead of the Games.
This came to light when Sports Permanent Secretary, Agnes Musunga appeared before the committee to answer queries raised in the Auditor General’s report of 2012 on the accounts for the financial year.
PAC chairperson, Vincent Mwale was concerned with the issuance of completion certificates for the UNZA works at a cost of K164, 087 despite some compromised works.
Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) Member of Parliament (MP), Mulumenui Imenda questioned why sub-standard materials were used when there were experts who could have advised accordingly.
Imenda expressed worry as to why the ministry did not summon the contractor back to finish up the works especially that a lot of money was spent on the project.
In response, Musunga maintained that rehabilitation works at UNZA were done according to specifications with the 2.5 millimetre squared cables for the sockets were used as guided by the I.E.E regulations.
She said it was agreed that the UNZA management would reinforce a ban on no cooking in rooms.
“The foregoing ban had not been enforced on the students who are overcrowded in the rooms and this explains why cables meant to work at the permissible current of 16amps are melting whenever they subjected to currents between 30amps to 45amps for cooking appliances,” she said.
The committee was not convinced when Bornwell Kalumba, who is an electrical engineer at the Works and Supply Ministry, attempted to help Musunga by alleging that the problem resulting in cables melting was as a result of UNZA not adhering to the agreement of students not to be cooking in their rooms.
Kalumba claimed that the same type of cables were used in the various projects the ministry had undertaken including the modern stadia that have been built.
However, Linus Kunda, an architect under the Building Department, said delays by the contractor to work on the UNZA problems was because the institution was still on while works at the tennis court at NASDEC had already commenced with the contractor razing the facility.
MMD Lunte MP, Felix Mutati questioned how engineers from the Works and Supply Ministry, working together with the Sports Ministry could have issued a certificate of completion when works were badly done.
But Musunga admitted that the works were poorly done because of the time factor between constructing and rehabilitating of the facilities for the Games.
She said it was why the tennis courts at NASDEC had been razed so that the contractor can do a better job and that the five percent retention of gross value will not be paid until the defects were corrected.
“Not all contractors were paid because we realised some defects with some works that were done and this is why some contractors have been recalled to redo the works,” she said.
The committee also questioned Musunga on why the ministry failed to follow procedure when it entered into various contracts amounting to K113, 288, 342 without authority from the Zambia Public Procurement Authority.