Vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has made an appeal to private contractors to ensure they deliver when given work by the government.
Nandi-Ndaitwah was speaking at the inauguration of the new regional office complex for the directorate of education, arts and culture at Eenhana in the Ohangwena region on Friday.
She said the government believes in private-public partnership as a tool to empower the business community as it has a role to play in the country’s developmental agenda. However, when most private contractors are awarded tenders for government projects, they leave the working hanging, forcing the government to continue paying rent for office space.
“There is always room for the work to be given to the private sector so that we also see the money getting into the economy, for the economy to grow and enable us to create this necessary jobs. However, there are instances when the government was disappointed because there is work that is given to the private sector and we also rent property from them, however, the people entrusted with the responsibilities betray the trust given to them by not delivering.
“Over the past few months I have inaugurated about four government projects, two from the home affairs ministry and two from the ministry of education, however, what is now disappointing is that in all these four cases, tenders were first given to the private sector, they did not deliver. All the projects stopped.”
Nandi-Ndaitwah said they then decided to continue by making use of August 26 and that by that time, the cost of materials had increased.
She appealed to the private sector to see any project as a national project.
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