New RCC salaries twist
The works ministry will no longer be responsible for the salaries of Roads Contractor Company (RCC) employees after making a final payment at the end of June.
This is according to ministry spokesperson Julius Ngweda, who said the responsibility for the RCC has now fully been transferred to the Cabinet Committee on Treasury.
“We did our part on the RCC and it is now in the hands of the treasury committee. Last month was the last time for us to pay the salaries of the employees of the RCC,” he said.
The responsibility would now fall into the hands of the ministry of finance, he added.
“The cabinet committee and the ministry of finance must now figure out how to pay the RCC employees.”
It will not be the first time the fate of the RCC will be left in the hands of the cabinet committee.
Public enterprises minister Leon Jooste referred the matter back to the works ministry, when quizzed on the future of the RCC, in the light of its obligations towards creditors and employees.
“Please request the information from the ministry of transport, as the RCC is still reporting to that ministry in this regard,” he said.
Following a decision to place the beleaguered parastatal under judicial management, the cabinet committee was tasked to decide the fate of the RCC in 2017 already.
The RCC board and its line ministry, the ministry of works, said a second rescue plan was being finalised in September last year. At the time, board chairman Obren Sibeya told Namibian Sun: “The RCC is at an advanced stage of finalising its rescue plan, which will first be discussed by the full board, the shareholder and thereafter communicated to all other stakeholders.”
The first rescue plan was a proposed cash injection of N$580 million from Chinese construction firm Jiangsu Nantong Sanjian. Repayment would have taken place in the form of participation by the Chinese company in current and other identified future projects for “five years or earlier”.
The 47% stake that would have gone to the Chinese firm in these projects was worth an estimated N$2 billion. Government pulled the plug on that deal in May last year. The parastatal's money woes come a long way.
By September 2017, cabinet resolved to place the company under judicial management, but the bill is yet to be tabled in parliament. Had it been passed, the RCC would have been granted a stay in legal proceedings by its creditors.
OGONE TLHAGE
This is according to ministry spokesperson Julius Ngweda, who said the responsibility for the RCC has now fully been transferred to the Cabinet Committee on Treasury.
“We did our part on the RCC and it is now in the hands of the treasury committee. Last month was the last time for us to pay the salaries of the employees of the RCC,” he said.
The responsibility would now fall into the hands of the ministry of finance, he added.
“The cabinet committee and the ministry of finance must now figure out how to pay the RCC employees.”
It will not be the first time the fate of the RCC will be left in the hands of the cabinet committee.
Public enterprises minister Leon Jooste referred the matter back to the works ministry, when quizzed on the future of the RCC, in the light of its obligations towards creditors and employees.
“Please request the information from the ministry of transport, as the RCC is still reporting to that ministry in this regard,” he said.
Following a decision to place the beleaguered parastatal under judicial management, the cabinet committee was tasked to decide the fate of the RCC in 2017 already.
The RCC board and its line ministry, the ministry of works, said a second rescue plan was being finalised in September last year. At the time, board chairman Obren Sibeya told Namibian Sun: “The RCC is at an advanced stage of finalising its rescue plan, which will first be discussed by the full board, the shareholder and thereafter communicated to all other stakeholders.”
The first rescue plan was a proposed cash injection of N$580 million from Chinese construction firm Jiangsu Nantong Sanjian. Repayment would have taken place in the form of participation by the Chinese company in current and other identified future projects for “five years or earlier”.
The 47% stake that would have gone to the Chinese firm in these projects was worth an estimated N$2 billion. Government pulled the plug on that deal in May last year. The parastatal's money woes come a long way.
By September 2017, cabinet resolved to place the company under judicial management, but the bill is yet to be tabled in parliament. Had it been passed, the RCC would have been granted a stay in legal proceedings by its creditors.
OGONE TLHAGE
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