Nape orders speedy ministry’s office construction

MINISTER for Information, Communication and Information Technology Nape Nnauye has ordered the National Housing Corporation (NHC) to speed up the construction of the ministry’s building at Mtumba area in Dodoma to ensure timely completion.

Nape issued the directives when he toured the site to inspect the progress of the construction work.

Speaking to journalists shortly after inspecting the project Nape said that the construction is progressing well but not at the expected pace.

“The construction is progressing well but not at the expected  speed, when the project started  the pace was good and the contractor pledged  to complete the work by April this year instead of October but as I have observed and explanation given by the project manager  it   may take up  to August or October this year,” said Mr Nape.

“I want the contractor  to increase the number of people to work here, you have to finish  this work by  April as you promised but if you fail you can extend  up to June  this year… don’t take us to August or October, we need to shift from the small office we are using now” he said.

Nape has also extended his sincere thanks to President Samia Suluhu Hassan for continuing to dish out funds for the construction of various office buildings including the Ministry’s block.

“I am very grateful to President Samia as she is continuing to provide funds for the construction of these buildings you see, there are many buildings that have been built and the work never stalled because there is a constant flow of fund,” he said.

Along with the building inspection, the minister also planted a tree and asked all ministry’s administrators to plant trees and make sure that they grow well in order to protect and preserve the environment.

On her part, the Project Manager from NHC Engineer Grace Musita said that the project started in October 2021 and is supposed to be implemented in a period of 24 months, saying it is expected to be completed in October this year.

She pointed out some challenges that interrupted the execution pace as hiccups in procurement system and the availability of construction materials especially cement and steels.

“We have had some challenges in the procurement system and inflation in construction materials. Unavailability of such materials has been a challenge toward maintaining the speed we started with,” said Eng Musita.

“In order to ensure that we complete the project within the timeframe, we decided to order materials directly from the factory as well as importing some of them to avoid a risk of spending a long time waiting for materials” she added.

She also explained that the entire project will cost 23.9 bn/- upon completion. According to her, they have already received 7.9 bn/-, approximately 35 per cent of the whole amount.

“The construction of the structure has been completed by 100 per cent. Currently we are in the finishing stage and  we have already started receiving finishing  materials such as paints, tiles, aluminum profiles among others, and we are expecting to finish the work early” she said.