Tender out for Eros airport upgrades

The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) is looking for reputable companies to tender for upgrades to be done at the Eros Airport in Windhoek. NAC acting CEO Tamer El-Kallawi said the rehabilitation and extension of the airport’s runway forms part of a broader turnaround strategy for the company, aimed at bringing safety and security standards for all eight airports under its jurisdiction to international standard. “The proposed work will include the rehabilitation, upgrading and extension of the runway pavement designs, runway geometrics, surface water drainage systems and aeronautical ground lighting system,” El-Kallawi said in a statement issued yesterday. One requirement of the job, he said, was that the successful consultant would have to come up with an effective runway design that can be implemented with the least disturbance to operations, given that the Eros Airport is one of the busiest in the country. “Additionally, companies that comply with a black economic empowerment status in terms of ownership, management and staff will have preference and an added advantage,” he said. “They must also demonstrate a corporate social responsibility towards the Namibian economic growth.” Only those companies with accreditation from the Association of Consulting Engineers will be accepted into the tendering process. “The NAC has a procurement policy for specialist consultancy services, whereby specialist service providers are invited to tender for the works. These service providers are grouped in terms of their areas of specialty, the experience of the firm in the related area of specialisation, professional experience of staff and lastly the systems they have in place in executing projects of similar nature and ETC,” the NAC boss said. Other issues of compliance include a requirement that applying firms possess certificates of good standing with both the Social Security Commission (SSC) and Inland Revenue, and that they provide the airports company with a synopsis of the methodologies they intend to apply. WINDHOEK STAFF REPORTER