President Uhuru wants speedy completion of stalled Dandora Stadium

President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for Nairobi County government to complete the construction of Dandora Stadium, even as probe into the project continues.

The completion of the Sh350 million stadium has been delayed after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) opened investigations into the tendering process for the project.

The President said the contractor should come back on site and complete the remaining piece of work for residents to benefit from the project.

He, however, maintained that he will not call for a stop to the EACC investigations, saying that those found guilty by the anti-graft agency should be brought to book.

This comes after a section of Dandora residents pleaded with the Head of State to open the stadium whose construction had stalled.

“Investigations into the project should not hinder people's right to access and enjoy stadium facilities. As EACC continues with investigations, the contractor should come back on site and finish the remaining works,” said President Kenyatta.

“But I will not say EACC to stop investigations on the stadium and those who broke the law should be charged. They know what they were doing and if found guilty, action must be taken,” he added.

Area MCA Francis Otieno Ngesa echoed the President's call saying most of the materials and facilities are wasting away with the delay impacting negatively on youths in the area. 

"The changing rooms, the turf and other materials are rotting as we wait for the completion of the stadium. I would like to urge the contractor to get back to site," said Mr Ngesa. 

The stadium was set to be launched last year July, but the investigations resulted in work at the stadium to stall with the stadium at 80 percent complete.

Already, more than 3,000 seats had been installed in the terraces with changing rooms and floodlights fitted.

This was after EACC opened investigations in October 2019 over irregular payment of Sh196 million for the project with the probe targeting top county officials over their involvement in the violation of procurement laws in regards to procuring a contractor for the multi-million project.

The contractor, M/s Scanjet Construction Limited, left the site in September 2019 delaying the last piece of work that was remaining.

The project is part of Sh1.3 billion stadia contract awarded to Scanjet Construction Limited in the 2017/2018 financial year for the construction of four stadia in Nairobi including Kawangware (Sh250 million), Kihumbuini (Sh250 million) and Ziwani (Sh186.6 million).

However, trouble began when concern was raised over the change of materials by the contractor who was accused of using steel instead of concrete.

An investigation by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) flagged irregularities in the awarding of the tender, alteration of contract specifications, suspected irregular payments and forgery of documents while also questioning the standard of the work.

The authority had on June 13, 2019, received a complaint that Scanjet Construction was using steel structures in clear contravention of the contract specifications with allegations that contract documents, including cabinet memorandum, were forged to state the stadium should be steel structure when the work is 70 per cent complete.

After investigations, PPRA indicted the county government for paying Sh196.87 million to the contractor despite the technical evaluators questioning the quality of work. It recommended remedial action against any party culpable.