A Sh69.9 million construction project at Luanda Technical and Vocational College has stalled despite receiving funding, with MPs blaming poor project management for keeping students in inadequate learning facilities more than two years after the works were due for completion.
The project, comprising workshops, classrooms and office blocks, was scheduled for completion in March 2024. However, an Auditor-General’s report for the 2023/24 financial year showed that the works were only 55 per cent complete and 32 weeks behind schedule as of June 30, 2024.
The project has since reached about 85 per cent completion, but meaningful work has again stopped, putting its completion date in doubt.
The contractor, Capital Icon Construction Limited, has been given an extension until November 19, 2026, but is seeking an additional Sh6 million, citing fluctuations in construction costs, before returning to the site.
The matter came before the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, where lawmakers questioned the handling of the project and the supervision of the contractor.
Walter Obwogo, chairman of the Project Implementation Committee, told MPs that the contractor had failed to maintain satisfactory progress despite being granted more time.
“Meaningful activity on site appears to have stopped,” Obwogo said.
He said the contractor had been issued with a formal notice of default on August 20, 2026, and ordered to resume work.
Lawmakers were also concerned about a major difference between the amount the contractor claimed for completed work and what the project team found had actually been done.
Capital Icon Construction Limited submitted a payment application of Sh7.9 million, but the project team assessed the value of the work at about Sh747,000.
The discrepancy prompted MPs to question whether the project was being properly supervised and whether public funds were adequately protected.
Maungu said the delay was not caused by lack of money but by failures in managing the project.
“This is not about money. It is about project management,” he said.
The MP said students were bearing the consequences of the delays despite funds being available for the construction.
“I can confirm that the students in Luanda are learning under a tree and in a primary school class,” Maungu said.
He said government funds should deliver the services for which they were allocated instead of remaining unused while projects stalled.
“The government money should not just die in an account. That money is meant for a purpose,” he said.
The committee directed the project team to provide a clear plan for completing the remaining works and explain the measures being taken to compel the contractor to resume construction.
The prolonged delay also raised questions over why the contractor had not been terminated.
Kiminini MP Maurice Kakai Bissau warned that weaknesses in contract management could expose the government to further losses, particularly where variations were granted without adequate justification.
“If you are following the articles of the contract, they will not even dare come back for variation,” Bissau said.
Bomachoge Chache MP Alpha Miruka proposed giving the contractor until November 30 to complete the project, after which the contract should lapse and the remaining works be procured afresh.
The project’s mentor institution, Sigalagala National Polytechnic, defended its handling of payments, saying it would not release public money for work that had not been completed.
Sigalagala chief principal Evans Bosire told MPs that the contractor had previously received about Sh5 million but had not used the payment to advance the project as expected.
“He wants to tell me to pay him around Sh8 million for work he has not done,” Bosire said.
He said the institution measures completed works before approving payments and would only pay for verified work.
“We ensure that we measure the work done, and that’s the only money we pay. Extras we don’t,” he said.
Bosire said Sigalagala was mentoring Luanda Technical and Vocational College on behalf of the Ministry of Education and ensuring the construction followed the law and required procedures.
Public Works architect Anthony Ekajul, however, warned that terminating the contract could cause further delays.
“Termination is a process. We might end up another three years before we get back to the project,” Ekajul said.
He instead proposed engaging the contractor to finish the remaining works while tying payments strictly to verified progress.
The suggestion did not fully satisfy lawmakers.
Kilome MP Thaddeus Nzambia said stalled government projects often followed a pattern where contractors completed substantial works before abandoning sites and later seeking additional payments.
He said project managers should intervene much earlier when contractors showed signs of failing to meet their obligations.
Kasipul MP Boyd Were also questioned the value of having funds available while the project remained unfinished.
“The money may be safe, but if the project stalls for two or three years, at the end of the day we are lost,” he said.
The committee directed officials to return with a clear way forward, including measures to ensure the contractor resumes work.
With the project now about 85 per cent complete, MPs are demanding that the remaining works be finished and the Sh69.9 million investment deliver the facilities intended for students.
