The African Development Bank (AfDB) on 7 May announced that Chinese equipment manufacturer and engineering, procurement and construction contractor Chint Electric has been blacklisted for 36 months. During the period Chint will be unable to bid, subcontract or provide services under any contract in which the AfDB is participating as a financier.
The settlement reached with Chint will see the AfDB monitor progress strengthening the company’s corporate compliance and requires that Chint cooperates with the AfDB’s Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption in unrelated cases of misconduct. The debarment period could be reduced to 24 months if conditions are met early.
The company will also be cross-debarred under the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of debarment decisions, which includes the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group.
The debarment is the consequence of “numerous misrepresentations of its past experience in bidding for AfDB-financed contracts”, the AfDB said. “Chint Electric misrepresented the technical specifications, the value, the execution period and/or the degree of completion of contracts used as credentials in order to qualify for tenders”.
Seven tenders between 2012 and 2017 are involved in the allegations, all relating to transmission and distribution infrastructure. Four tenders under the first and second phases of the Emergency Power Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project in Zimbabwe were affected, as well as two tenders under the Rural Electrification II Project in Ethiopia and one tender from the Electricity Transmission System Improvement Project in Tanzania.
Chint also has a presence in generation, mostly in North Africa where it is an EPC contractor at six solar projects in Egypt and Morocco. In Zimbabwe, the company is partnered with Intratrek Zimbabwe as the EPC contractor for the 100MW Gwanda solar PV plant. Intratrek has links to the family of former President Robert Mugabe through its managing director Wicknell Chivayo and has faced criticism of its performance since being awarded the contract in 2015.
