[kictanet] Kenya's fibre optic cable project queried

[John Walubengo]

Oh dear!

looks like TEAMs is heading into the hassle and tussles of
EASSy.  At this rate, I am going to bet my 'money' on KDNs
Flag....

walu.

--- alice <alice at apc.org> wrote:

> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: 	[Fibre-for-africa] Kenya's fibre optic cable
> project queried
> Date: 	Mon, 12 Mar 2007 08:32:18 +0300
> From: 	Wairagala Wakabi <wakabi at cipesa.org>
> Reply-To: 	APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop
> Participants 
> <fibre-for-africa at lists.apc.org>
> To: 	APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop
> Participants 
> <fibre-for-africa at lists.apc.org>
> References: 
>
<mailman.0.1172828896.9025.fibre-for-africa at lists.apc.org>
> 
> <45EBFF90.7090301 at cipesa.org>
> <45EC0CF1.1050706 at cipesa.org>
> 
> 
> 
> So Kenya is pushing full throttle with its vision of
> building a cable to 
> link the country to international fibre. The East African
> Marine System 
> (TEAMS), promoted by government and expected to draw
> private financing 
> as well, has been touted as the country’s answer to
> EASSy’s delays in 
> getting off the ground – and in satisfying Kenya’s
> misgivings about the 
> EASSy protocol, the role NEPAD has been playing in the
> initiative and – 
> some say – South Africa’s attempt to dominate the show.
> 
> But in the rush to get TEAMS off the ground, did the
> country ignore best 
> practice in procurement? That is the question an article
> in today’s The 
> EastAfrican newspaper asks. That is the question the
> country’s Attorney 
> General’s Chambers has been asking.
> 
> Their queries refer to the manner in which Tyco
> International Ltd. Was 
> handed the $2.7 m deal to do prelim work on the deal
> “without 
> competitive bidding”.  One could join the AG’s office in
> asking 
> questions: Will TEAMS go ahead with this plan anyway, now
> that some of 
> the entities being expected to fund the construction of
> TEAMS have moved 
> a step further with EASSy. Here we are referring to the
> likes of Telekom 
> Kenya. And if EASSy goes ahead, then  Flag Telcom/
> Reliance Telecom 
> actualise their advanced plan to build their cable (of
> which Kenya Data 
> Network is a keenly involved party, just as it is in
> EASSy) how viable 
> will these cables be? For more on cables planned on East
> coast of 
> Africa, please see www.fibreforafrica.net .
> 
> Wakabi
> --
> 
> Fresh snarl-ups in Kenya-Fujaira fibre optic cable
> project
> 
> STAFF WRITER, The EastaAfrican, March 12, 2007
> 
> Controversy is simmering between the Office of the
> Attorney General and 
> the Ministry of Information and Communications over the
> procurement for 
> a multimillion-dollar plan by Kenya to build a
> fibre-optic cable link 
> from Mombasa to Fujaira in the United Arab Emirates.
> 
> Known as The East African Marine System (TEAMS), the
> project is expected 
> to be launched in parallel with the $200 million East
> African Submarine 
> Cable System (EASSy) — a fibre-optic cable link along the
> eastern 
> seaboard of Africa, from South Africa to Sudan via a
> number of landing 
> points including Mombasa.
> 
> The EastAfrican has learnt that the Office of the
> Attorney General has 
> raised queries over the manner in which Tyco
> International Ltd — a 
> transnational that operates in 100 countries — was in
> January this year 
> awarded a $2.7 million contract by the Information
> Ministry to conduct a 
> marine survey without competitive bidding.
> 
> The ministry had in January sought and was granted an
> exemption from the 
> Directorate of Public Procurement to procure the contract
> for a marine 
> survey through single-sourcing.
> 
> However, the Office of the Attorney General has — in a
> letter signed by 
> Solicitor-General Wanjuki Muchemi — argued that the
> application to the 
> directorate was not done according to procedure and
> demanded minutes of 
> the ministry’s technical evaluation committee that
> decided that the 
> project be single-sourced.
> 
> Apparently, the ministry had sought the exemption on the
> grounds of the 
> onset of the monsoon season in the Indian Ocean and the
> consequent need 
> to fast-track the project.
> 
> It is understood that, during an earlier meeting in Dubai
> between Kenya 
> government officials and the Dubai-based Etisalat Ltd —
> the main private 
> sector sponsors of the project — the point was made to
> the officials 
> that the marine survey contract and the cable
> construction contract 
> could not be awarded to separate companies.
> 
> The government had been warned that it was rare for a
> cable contractor 
> to accept a marine survey conducted by another firm.
> 
> Experts had also told the government officials that
> marine surveys are 
> usually deemed to be part and parcel of construction
> works and that 
> awarding the survey component separately would amount to
> giving the 
> construction contract to the same firm.
> 
> The Office of the Attorney General wants to know why the
> issues raised 
> by experts had been ignored.
> 
> TEAMS is one of the largest projects being undertaken by
> the government 
> this year. The government decided to launch the project
> when it realised 
> that the EASSy project was facing too many delays.
> 
> The government is set to invite bids any time from now
> for a financial 
> arranger who will design a plan to raise money for the
> project, 
> tentatively expected to be completed by early next year.
> The contract will be awarded competitively by April this
> year.
> 
> The government — through Telkom Kenya — is working with
> Dubai-based 
> Etilasat to build the cable.
> 
> The private sector will be invited to either buy shares
> in the project 
> or will be brought in on the basis of proved capacity to
> raise funds 
> through models worked out by the financial arranger.
> 
> The information and communications technology sector in
> Kenya has for 
> years been held back by reliance on expensive satellite
> connectivity to 
> the international network.
> 
> Interest in construction of fibre-optic cable links to
> the Kenya Coast 
> has risen dramatically and Kenya appears set to acquire
> cheaper 
> international connectivity in less than two years.
> 
> First is the planned $200 million EASSy, which is
> beginning to pick up 
> momentum after a prolonged three-year gestation period.
> 
> Currently, the proposal is for an open-access operation
> modelled to 
> allow new entrants to use the infrastructure without
> paying high entry 
> charges.
> This is expected to result in low costs for connectivity
> and exponential 
> growth in transmission.
> According to the financing plan, up to 85 per cent ($170
> million) of the 
> funding is to come from development finance institutions,
> including the 
> 
=== message truncated ===



 
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