Billions of public money estimated at KSH15 Billion are at risk after it emerged that an Italian contractor at the core of bribery claims involving Kenyan Cabinet secretaries has left the sites of three mega projects.
The Italian company CMC Di Ravenna is said to be have been declared bankrupt at home in Italy and despite receiving a down payment in the three mega projects, the company has since abandoned the hydro-power and drinking water projects in Nakuru and Elgeyo Marakwet counties from which it is alleged the kickbacks were paid.
An assistant at the offices confirmed the closure of the sites and said that senior officials, whom she declined to name, had travelled to Italy, supposedly to address the financial crisis. She said she was not certain when they would be back and we were unable to independently verify their whereabouts.
It also emerged that this week, the firm was thrown out of two mega projects it had been contracted to undertake last year in the South East Asian nation of Nepal.
With CMC Di Ravenna running into financial headwinds, there are fears that the Kenyan contracts could be re-awarded, and at extra cost.
The ongoing development has raised serious concerns on the contractor’s ability to administer the three dam projects in Kenya with amounting to Sh91 billion.
The other two projects are Arror and Kimwarer dams in Elgeyo Marakwet.
And just like in the local cases, CMC Di Ravenna had sought advance payment to kick-start the projects in Nepal, but the request was turned down since the firm had not given the requisite bank guarantees.
On Tuesday Tanahu Hydropower said it had no option but to abort the contract awarded to CMC Di Ravenna due to the stalement and start the process of finding a replacement.
A day earlier, Melamchi Water confirmed it had put away the contractor from the project the firm had abandoned due to a freeze on its payment guarantee – technically known as a security bond.