Public Property Service has awarded Belay Ab motors a 144 million Br contract. This is the second time in a week that the company has been awarded a government contract. Earlier last week, Belay Ab won a similar contract to supply 22 vehicles, worth 32 million Br.
The company is expected to deliver 119 Chinese-made ZNA pickups to various government agencies. The Ethiopian Shipping Lines & Logistics Service Enterprise is expected to receive 18 of them while the Addis Ababa City Administration will receive 95 vehicles.
The week after the first award, the contract was tweaked by the Public Procurement & Property Disposal Service as the demand for vehicles increased from a number of government agencies.
The new contract will have Belay Ab supply 97 more automobiles at the same unit price of 1.48 million Br each. The procurement law of Ethiopia states that procuring bodies have the right to change the quantity of goods of services by up to 25pc when awarding a contract. This however, precludes them from changing the unit price.
The new contract signed is above the 25pc limit. In this case the Service was required to receive permission from the Public Procurement & Property Administration Agency.
“We sought the permission of the Agency and followed their directions when we revised our deal”, Yigezu Daba, general director of the Service, told Fortune.
Belay Ab managed to secure the contract in the midst of stiff competition with a number of car importers in the country who participated in the bid. Nyala Motors, with Nissan pickups, listed a price of 1.51 million Br per an automobile. Ethio-Nippon offered a 1.61 million Br bid for Mitsubishi vehicles, while Moenco offered to bring Toyota brands at a cost of two million birr a vehicle.
The contract was signed at the Services premises in King George Street by Yigezu and Fekadu Girma, general manager at Belay Ab on October 16. Belay Ab, founded a decade ago, has emerged as a major importer of cars in Ethiopia. It recently inked an assembly partnership deal with Kia Motors of South Korea.
Following the agreement with Kia, Belay Ab announced that it will invest about 150 million Br in its 30,000 sqm plant in Adama and it plans to inaugurate it by January 2017. The plant would have the capability to build 12 cars in the span of eight hours.
“I am glad that we got such an opportunity,” Fekadu told Fortune at the signing ceremony. “This award assures us the of the government’s support.”
Belay Ab is expected to deliver 70 vehicles within 20 days. The rest are expected to be delivered within 120 days.
Since the beginning of the year, the Service has awarded contracts worth 2.4 billion Br in construction and purchases. Out of this, 1.4 billion Br was spent on automobiles. Out of the purchased vehicles, 237 cars have yet to be delivered to the Oromia Police Commission and are believed to be in the Port of Djibouti and the Gelan Dry Port.
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