Justicia Shipena
A consortium that was previously rejected has now been awarded the Naute–Keetmanshoop Water Pipeline Replacement and Ancillary Works tender.
The newly appointed Public Procurement Review Panel upheld the decision to grant the contract to Adaptive Building Land Construction CC in partnership with China State Engineering Corporation (Southern Africa) (Pty) Ltd Namibia.
Two months ago, Finance Minister Ericah Shafudah appointed 15 members to the Public Procurement Review Panel for a three-year term that began on 1 October 2025 and ended on 30 September 2028.
The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) confirmed that the N$191 million contract was approved after a series of legal and administrative reviews that began in 2023.
The case involved several appeals, cancellations and court rulings before the final decision.
According to CPBN, in response to questions by the Windhoek Observer, the project’s initial tender was advertised in 2023, and the CPBN selected JDN Civil Engineering CC in a joint venture with New Era Investments (Pty) Ltd for the award in October that year.
CPBN said, however, the process soon faced challenges. During the standstill period, Adaptive Building Land Construction CC and its Chinese partner filed a reconsideration application, which the Review Panel dismissed in December 2023.
The CPBN then issued a formal award to JDN Civil Engineering in February 2024.
CPBN Stakeholder Relations Manager Johanna Kambala said, “But JDN failed to submit the required performance security, despite several extensions.”
As a result, she said the board cancelled the process in June 2024.
After the cancellation, the CPBN invited the original bidders to a restricted bidding process in September 2024.
“Adaptive Building Land Construction and its partner again submitted a bid and this time emerged as the successful bidder. A notice of selection was issued in January 2025, valuing the contract at N$191 million excluding VAT,” she said.
JDN Civil Engineering and New Era Investments challenged the process again, arguing that the procurement method was unfair.
Kambala said the review panel initially ruled in their favour in March 2025 and ordered CPBN to restart the procurement.
She said Adaptive Building Land Construction then approached the High Court, asking that the Review Panel’s decision be set aside.
However, court documents show that in February last year, the High Court in Windhoek struck an urgent application by Adaptive Building Land Construction and its Chinese partner from the roll.
At that time, High Court acting judge Beatrix de Jager found that the joint venture had failed to serve court documents on other cited bidders as required by the rules.
De Jager also ruled that the JDN Civil Engineering and New Era Investments joint venture was a necessary party that had been wrongly excluded.
The legal battles continued into 2025.
Kambala said in June the Supreme Court dismissed JDN’s appeal with costs.
“The High Court later set aside the Review Panel’s March decision, finding that the panel had not been properly constituted. The case was sent back to a newly appointed Review Panel.”
The new panel met on 17 July 2025 and dismissed JDN’s latest application, confirming the award to Adaptive Building Land Construction and China State Engineering Corporation.
Kambala said all procedures under the Public Procurement Act No. 15 of 2015 were followed.
“The award of the contract to Adaptive Building Land Construction CC in joint venture with China State Engineering Corporation (Pty) Ltd Namibia followed all due processes as stipulated under the Act. All administrative and judicial processes, including reconsideration, review, and court proceedings, were duly exhausted, and the outcome affirmed the CPBN’s decision,” Kambala said.
The Naute–Keetmanshoop Water Pipeline Replacement project, managed by NamWater, is expected to improve water supply infrastructure in southern Namibia once construction begins.
