THE adjudication process of thee tender to supply ZESA with pre-paid meters was fraudulent, Energy and Power Development Minister, Elton Mangoma, has said.

Mangoma told Parliament the tender was supplied to a company called REVMA adding the State Procurement Board (SPB) has since confirmed that the process was flawed.

However, the SPB could not reverse the process because it was its adjudicators who were at fault, the minister added.

“A tender was floated, adjudicated and awarded to REVMA. The adjudication process was fraudulent. All other tenderers who proposed external hosting were disqualified as it was a specific requirement that the platform be based at (ZESA subsidiary) ZETDC,” Mangoma said.

“The adjudicators knew but presented RVMA as a direct supplier until (the contract signing stage when REVMA wanted to be paid 60 cents per transaction. Discussions with State Procurement Board indicated that REVMA had not misrepresented their position, but that the adjudicators had falsely misrepresented the facts.

“As a result SPB could not reverse their award. The only recourse is for ZETDC to approach the Administrative Court for the nullification.”

Mangoma said the ZETDC has now been directed to lodge a court application to seek the nullification of the tender.

Meanwhile the Zimbabwe power Company had also applied for a licence to construct a new power plant and Mangoma said the firm should work with the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) to ensure that the SPB does not bungle the project.

“ZPC has applied for a licence to construct the Gairezi hydro scheme. This is estimated to cost $90m and the project will take 18 – 24 months,” he said.

“The licence will be issued this month and finances are being arranged. It will be necessary to work withOPC to avoid the delays of the State Procurement Board (SPB).”