Sh1 billion query haunts Tanesco

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) is on a new test of credibility following allegations that it approved the use of substandard disc insulators in its high voltage power transmission lines despite disapproval by the public utility’s experts.The company endorsed the use of cap and pin porcelain insulators into its transmission networks worth about Sh1 billion procured against technical specifications. The procurement of the insulators that were rejected by Tanesco experts are said to pose a great danger to the transmission towers and the technical aspects of the transmission lines.

They were found, for instance, to have about 80 per cent weight increase for a single insulator, which experts said could have significant effects on loading of existing towers.

The Citizen has reliably learnt that an expert who inspected and verified the consignment and twice recommended that the 45,594 pieces of insulators were not fit for use in Tanesco’s transmission line networks, has since been transferred to Mwanza.

In August 2008, the company signed a Sh1 billion contract with M/s Anisha’s Ltd, a company that won the tender for the supply of the equipment. As per terms and conditions of supply, the supplier was required to submit prior to the shipment, a sample of insulator units for approval by Tanesco.

However, M/s Anisha’s unilaterally allegedly decided not to comply with technical specifications outlined in the bid document regarding inspection, testing and quality assurance.

According to two reports of Inspection and Acceptance of teams formed by Tanesco in June last year, factory acceptance testing of the consignment that requires the presence of witnesses from the client (Tanesco), was not done.
“The Inspection and Acceptance Committee is satisfied that the consignment of cap and pin porcelain disc insulators delivered by M/s Anisha’s Ltd are not fit for use in Tanesco transmission line networks,” reads part of the report by four Tanesco experts chaired by Engineer Brown Foi.

The team investigated whether the equipment met specification standards and whether they were fit for the intended use. “The anomalies observed are far beyond the specification and could have been avoided if the supplier had diligently adhered to the contract provisions,” said the report.

As per terms and conditions of supply, the supplier was required to submit prior shipment, a sample of the insulator units for approval by Tanesco. Many of the insulators randomly picked for verification were found to have sheared and cracked.

Following the findings, Tanesco’s managing director William Mhando wrote to M/s Anisha’s on June 29 last year, telling the company to collect the rejected insulators and replace them with new ones manufactured in accordance with Tanesco specifications and technical data provided in the contract agreement.

“The insulators delivered do not fit for use in our transmission lines and therefore Tanesco rejects the delivered insulators,” read part of the letter.

But in an interesting turn of events and highly questionable circumstances, as well as total disregard of recommendations by the firm’s own experts, Mr Mhando threw out their advice and formed a new team to re-inspect the insulators.

Mr Mhando’s team was chaired by Engineer Simon Kihiyo and drew members from Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Bureau for Industrial Cooperation (Bico) of the University of Dar es Salaam College of Engineering and Technology (CoET) and Tanesco. The committee, despite citing massive irregularities in the tendering procedures and shortcomings in the insulators, concluded that the insulators could be used in the Tanesco system.

“However, there is about 80 per cent weight increase for a single insulator and considering the number of units required up to 16 units for 220kV and 9 units for 132kV, this will have a significant effect on the loading of the existing towers.

“Therefore the committee recommends use of these insulators for replacement to be done only in transmission lines with 66kV lines and below. The insulators can be used in new transmission lines of higher voltages after incorporating weight in design,” the second team recommended.

One of the key findings of the team was that the weight of the insulators was far above the specified one. It recommended replacement of the existing insulators with new ones but be limited to transmission lines of up to 66kV,  to avoid overload of existing tower structure.

 “This fact may pose some difficulties, when it comes to the task of replacing a disc unit in a string insulator… However, as mentioned before that the tested porcelain disc insulator units satisfy the recommended compliances of power frequency overvoltage and mechanical failing load standards,” further reads the report signed by Dr Mighanda Manyahi of Bico.

Bico manager, Dr Alex Kyaruzi, however, said it should not be involved in any misapplication of its recommendation, which he says were only answers to what Tanesco requested.

“We were only asked to verify whether the supplied insulators were in accordance with specifications but not to decide on their use. There is no way we could say they were fit or not fit for use…. Eventually it is Tanesco who make decisions. We assume they have made due diligence of other considerations,” said Dr Kyaruzi.

Inquiries by The Citizen revealed the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) have carried out investigations regarding massive violation of public procurement rules on the tender.

The authority’s chief executive officer, Dr Ramadhani Mlinga, wrote to Tanesco in July 11, this year, and requested the company to submit all the documents regarding the procurement. PPRA declined to cooperate when this paper sought to know the findings of the investigations despite oral and written requests.

For nearly one month now, the authority’s Public Relations Officer, Ms Coleta Mnyamani’s answer has either been “the CEO who authorised the answers is on leave” or “I am not sure the information you’re seeking is for public consumption or not.”