Chinese Firm Blacklisted by World Bank Awarded Sh40 Billion Gov't Tender in Kenya

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) is being investigated for allegedly awarding a tender worth Sh40 billion to a Chinese company that had already been blacklisted by the World Bank.

The Daily Nation reports that the Chinese firm secured the lucrative contract to construct the Kipevu Oil Terminal in Mombasa in 2016.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) says the company is also under investigations for allegedly inflating the cost of the project from Sh15 billion to Sh25 billion and later Sh40 billion.

The anti-graft agency further notes that KPA delayed making the announcement for the contract awarded to the China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) for three months for unknown reasons.

It has now emerged that that CCCC’s parent company, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), had been blacklisted by the World Bank in 2009 for a period of eight years until January 12th, 2017.

The company was outlawed after investigations established that it had “engaged in collusive practices in World Bank-funded projects in the Philippines.”

A report on the World Bank’s debarred list also indicates that CRBC colluded with Philippines’ state officials to enter “non-competitive, artificially high bid prices.”

EACC launched investigations into the tender in 2018 after a whistle-blower wrote a letter to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and EACC requesting for the cancellation of the multi-billion-shilling.

CCCC, however, insists that being blacklisted by the World Bank does not bar it from bidding for contracts.

 “CCCC was, and has, not from any point been debarred by the World Bank from participating or bidding for port projects. The debarment, which is irrelevant for the present purposes, only applied to World Bank-funded projects related to roads and bridges," the Chinese company says in a letter sent to EACC.

EACC detectives have questioned several past and current KPA managers over the tender.