China Gezhouba Group, the Sh82 billion Thwake Dam project contractor, is now facing an auction.
This follows a successful legal suit by a local firm that had been subcontracted by China Gezhouba Group Company in the project over a contract breach.
The legal battle which had been at Milimani High Court for the last two and a half years ended in the subcontractor’s favor.
The High Court on August 22, 2023, ordered the Chinese firm to pay the local company Sh683 million for breach of contract over the dam’s construction in Makueni County.
Justice Alfred Mabeya directed China Gezhouba Group Company to pay the subcontractor the amount and interest after finding that it didn’t pay actual excavated works as was on the site.
The subcontractor was according to court documents seen by the Star hired to do excavation, protection and support of the main spillway.
The job terms were fixed while unit prices and payments were dependent on the nature of excavated materials.
Jamdee Enterprises Auctioneers obtained orders from the same court to attach the defendant, China Gezhouba Group’s property after it failed to pay the plaintiff as earlier ordered by the court.
The auctioneers have since proclaimed as per the order by the court.
Jamdee Enterprises Auctioneers served China Gezhouba Group with a copy of the warrant of attachment of movable property in execution of decree for money at the Thwake Dam construction site in Makueni on Thursday, August 24. The firm's property will be attached for auction next Wednesday.
“Whereas China Gezhouba Group was ordered by order of this court passed on August 22nd August 2023 in the above-mentioned suit to pay to the plaintiff...
"These are to command you to attach the movable property of the said J/D jointly and severally as set for China Gezhouba Group in the schedule hereunto annexed or which shall be pointed out to you by the said D/H and unless the said judgment debtor shall pay to you the said sum,” the copy of the warrant of attachment signed by the High Court’s deputy registrar seen by the Star read in part.
Justice Mabeya said the Chinese firm admitted that the rock classification as contained in the original bill of quantities on which the subcontract was based didn’t match the actual site position.
The dam once completed will provide drinking water, agricultural irrigation water, hydropower, and other uses for human beings.
The water storage of Thwake is around 681 cubic meters.
The first phase of the project will cost the government Sh42 billion, while both the second and third phases will cost Sh40 billion.
The project was financed by a loan from the African Development Bank and the Kenyan government through budgetary allocation to the Water Ministry.
