ZESCO Approves Multi-Million Tender for Wooden Poles Amid Heightened Scrutiny
At its recent Special Meeting Number 5 for the 2024 financial year, held on October 31, the ZESCO Procurement Committee approved contracts worth millions for the supply and delivery of wooden poles, set for a one-year term. The decision, guided by the Public Procurement Act No. 8 of 2020 and its 2023 amendment, represents one of ZESCO’s largest procurement initiatives this year, aimed at meeting the growing demands of the country’s power infrastructure.
According to ZESCO, contracts will be awarded to the named suppliers after a five-day notification period, in line with procurement regulations. The tendering process adhered to Open National Bidding (ONB) guidelines, which prioritize fully Zambian-owned firms in a bid to empower local businesses. However, among the successful bidders is a company that, while registered locally, has a mixed ownership structure involving two Zambian stakeholders and one Spanish shareholder. The inclusion of such a firm, potentially falling into the second-tier of local bidders as per the ONB guidelines, has piqued interest given that the first tier prioritizes fully citizen-owned entities.
The successful bidders include Inverter Energy Zambia, with awarded bids at R32 million, R29 million, and R22 million. While the criteria and assessments that informed ZESCO’s decision have not been fully disclosed, this partial foreign ownership is likely to draw the attention of local stakeholders keen on ensuring that ONB regulations strictly favor Zambian businesses first.
As the contracts proceed, scrutiny may intensify over how these legal provisions were applied, particularly as Zambia seeks to reinforce transparency and accountability in public procurement. For now, the awarded companies await final approval to begin their work, while the broader public watches closely, underscoring the delicate balance between foreign partnerships and empowering local businesses in Zambia’s energy sector.
Monica Nsondo
Click here Notice of Best Evaluated Bidder – ZESCO-ONB-045-2024
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So we have the wooden poles but unfortunately we seem to have lost all the electricity!!!
This story lacks detail. Too little information.
Diggers Reporter looks like was heard. Story now has more meat
Nipano tuli…
Buti we are useless……….
Reduced to being happy being middle men………
Ati scrutiny…….scrutiny…….why don’t you scrutinies why these are only import fronts..?
Why has there not been a concerted effort to grow those poles in zambia ????
Utterly useless
As an ex chongololo club member iam opposed to exterminating our forests. Why is ZESCO’s focus on wooden poles? Because they are easy to harvest? That renders our land a desert! They are also very breakable thus occasionally requiring replacement.
Zesco could ask citizens for steel poles which we can locally manufacture. But since we have seen friends get rich quickly, Zambians want to opt for easier money making . We can even make fiberglass poles seeing as we have plenty of sand. Govt needs to support this kind of industry.
However we are killing our forests and our children will bear the brunt of desertification
We’re not children. Just go share the loot under strict scrutiny.
Is the heightened secrutiny on poles or people? Fear of what?
Two years ago Zesco gave over 100m USD contract for similar poles in a similar manner to both Zim Zim and RSA without this security hullabaloo. At the time Zaffico cried foul and Zesco has repeated the trend. Are we not used to such fuss? Give us a break.
Just look at the bid amounts. It works out cheaper to import. So tell us why Zesco should spend more on an expensive local product? ZAFICO should find out why their processes cost more. This is why state enterprises fail.
To all those critics. Zesco installations have slowed down because the dont have materials to do the work. So its not just poles. Yes, they have almost liquidated their debt. But they have several bottlenecks they need to work through.
Does anyone not notice the steel telephone poles that were erected by Zamtel? They are still there, not serving any purpose yet still standing straight. Meaning they last. Go into the suburbs and see them. Are these procurements public? Zambians should be give the opportunity to comment on these procurements that affect all of us.
Talema mwe kuti bela masuka pa mutu.:-(
Wooden poles from deforested trees. When will we have no poles?
Steel poles are to expensive and will be stolen for scrap metal, use cement poles last forever and we have lots of cement, but whats the point of get more poles for extended development when we cant supply the people we currently supply. invest in solar panels and solar farms
Poles for electricity are longer in height than telecoms poles…..
Hence is is not cost effective to use steel or concrete………
The ZESCO poles are from planted trees specifically grown for electric poles and roofing……..they are not from our woodlands……..
ZESCO should be encouraging out grower project of small farm holders , even if farmers grow 5 poles each………
These are fast maturing trees meaning ZESCO would have a constant supply of locally grown poles…….
But seems ministers and those at ZESCO have an intrest in importing poles for what ever reason………kickbacks..
Forwadee 2031
The poster is merely citing steel poles for the argument of durability. If the ZESCO poles are restricted to specifically grown trees ZESCO doesnt need to advertise because they know the one monopoly source:is it ZAFFICO. The advertising suggests you can bring in for sale any wood wherever you source it from. .
Still takes 20 yrs to grow to zesco standards, what villager will or can afford that waiting period
Thats more like it zesco poles dont come from forests but plantations
and thats GRZ’s baby
Instead of concentrating on power generation busy buying poles. If you are failing to supply the current number of poles what more when you add even more.