Chinese firm proceeds with M260m LSI project   

…. despite cancellation of its tender award 

…. trade ministry fails to explain this tender mystery 

Moorosi Tsiane 

Fresh controversy has erupted over the construction of the multi-million maloti headquarters of the Lesotho Standards Institute (LSI). 

This after allegations that Chinese contractor, QingJian and Founda Construction Joint Venture, has begun implementing the M259.9 million project despite the cancellation of its tender award following objections from rival bidders. 

How a company can proceed with implementing a cancelled tender, is inexplicable and only goes to exemplify the depth of the rot in the administration of public procurement processes in Lesotho. 

The LSI is expected to become Lesotho’s key product testing and certification facility. The tender for the construction of its HQ should have been refloated after the cancellation of the award to QingJian. But it now seems a re-award was done through the backdoor and QingJian is now on site mysteriously proceeding with the project. 

The Lesotho Times visited the construction site at Ha Tikoe and observed that works had already begun. 

Supporting the construction works are GWC Consulting Engineers as project manager, Trend Group as architect, JG Afrika as civil and structural engineer, Talani Quantity Surveyors as quantity surveyor, and Green Consultancy as environmental consultant. 

The controversy surrounding the project traces back to August 2022 when four companies submitted bids. These were LSP Construction, Bafani SIG Joint Venture, UNIK PTR Joint Venture, and QingJian and Founda Construction Joint Venture. 

Following the announcement of the intended award to QingJian, LSP Construction objected, arguing that all the three competing bidders had submitted bid guarantees under names different from those of their respective joint ventures. 

According to procurement regulations, that objection, if true, should have rendered the bids non-compliant resulting in their disqualification. 

The disputes around the tender eventually resulted in its cancellation on 31 January 2023 by the then Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Business Development, Thabo Moleko. 

However, sources close to the matter allege that despite the cancellation, the project was later re-awarded to QingJian behind closed doors without a fresh tender process.   

The August 2022 tender award process was chaired by then Deputy Principal Secretary, Tšireletso Mojela, before Mr Moleko, who confirms cancelling the tender, was appointed PS. Mr Moleko was eventually replaced by Palesa Matobako. She could not be reached for comment to explain this tender mystery as her phone rang unanswered. 

“The Public Procurement Act is very clear. If the bid guarantees were not submitted in the correct names, those bids should have been disqualified,” a source said. 

“…The ministry had therefore cancelled the award. We later learnt that the same project had been re-awarded and work had already commenced without a new tender process. That’s a monumental scandal and the nation deserve to know how that happened.” 

Another source confirmed that other irregularities had been identified leading to the cancellation. 

“After Minister Shelile came into office, he established other irregularities in the tender process because the awarding panel was not properly constituted to make a quorum,” the source claimed. 

It remains a mystery how QingJian has now moved on site without a proper retendering process.   

The project involves construction of a 10 000-square-metre double-storey complex expected to house approximately 37 specialised laboratories for testing food products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, construction materials, textiles and other locally manufactured goods. 

Contacted for comment, Mr Moleko confirmed that he had cancelled the award after assuming office and acting on instructions from then minister Shelile. 

“I do not know what happened after I left the ministry around June 2024. The last position I knew was that the award had been cancelled,” Mr Moleko said. 

“The minister instructed me to cancel it and that is what I did. There was no re-tendering process before I left Trade.” 

It seems only current PS, Ms Matobako, who took over from Mr Moleko, could unravel the mystery but all efforts to get comment from her failed this week. 

A QingJian Project Manager, who only identified himself as George, said he was only aware that the company had been awarded the contract in 2024 and commenced work in January 2025. 

“We started after GWC Consulting Engineers had already been appointed and that was around November 2024,” George said. 

“I would not know about some of these issues. The client and the Ministry of Trade are better placed to comment because they have all the records. 

“I am not aware of any cancellation after we were awarded. If there was one, it must have happened before our appointment.” 

The project, which had initially been scheduled for completion in May this year, is now projected to be completed in February 2027. 

LSI Director of Standards, Molebatsi Rabolinyane, has previously indicated that delays could push costs beyond the original M260 million budget, with revised estimates still under assessment. 

Meanwhile, efforts by this publication to obtain comment from new Minister of Trade, Industry and Business Development, Motlatsi Maqelepo, were also unsuccessful. 

Mr Maqelepo last week referred this newspaper to ministry spokesperson, Mpho Senatla, who requested written questions and undertook to forward them to Mr Rabolinyane last week. 

However, after repeated follow-ups, this newspaper was informed on Tuesday that senior ministry officials were out of the country attending engagements in Botswana and would only return over the weekend. 

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