The mega project of airport construction in Mandera County is headed to a dead end after the Public Procurement Administrative and Review Board revoked tender awards.
This has prompted one of the previous winning contractors to move to court.
The current standoff emerges barely a week after President Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto launched the over half a billion airport project in Wargadud area.
Alawaad Enterprises and the Concordia Build & Civil Engineers, which are apparently the two companies linked to a high ranking jubilee politician, had jointly been awarded the tenders as per documents allegedly seen by a Kenyan local daily. However, the Procurement Administrative and Review Board revoked the tender awards and instructed Kenya Airports Authority to award it to Seo and Sons Ltd, terming Concordia Build and Civil Engineers and Alawaad Enterprises as non-responsive.
The board further recommended that Alawaad and Concordia’s applications be admitted for yet another time just for technical and financial evaluation. Alawaad has since initiated a legal action to stop the construction.
The airport project is the second initiative in the North Eastern region to run into procurement complications days after the Presidential launch.
In the nearby county of Garissa, the Nuno - Modogashe road has also featured in a tug of war involving the local community and the national government over allegations of the latter forcefully grabbing communal land to dig out murram.