Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Municipal Council of Mbabane has engaged the Eswatini Economic Policy Analysis and Research Centre (ESEPARC) for the examination of factors contributing to business exit, especially Corporates that have already disinvested or are planning to leave Mbabane.
This follows the Council’s concern with the town’s economic development trends which include, amongst others, the relocation of major corporates to other cities.
The Council had earlier highlighted that while, over the past years, significant development had been made in the city, which include: road infrastructure, Central Business District, woodlands residential complex, Churches, United Nations tertiary institutions, hospitality industry (birth of Hilton Hotel), Public Service Pensions Fund, Woodlands Complex, Offices to mention a few, there were concerns with the exodus of businesses, the lack of recreational services, quiet night life, industrial sites dominated with churches and office complex, government dominated residential areas.
In an intention to award Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA), it was stated that ESEPARC emerged the best evaluated responsive tenderer ahead of three other companies that had applied for the tender. The organisation attained a total evaluation score of 85.3 per cent.
The other companies that had shown interest in the tender are Bigbhu Investments, Plush Communications, and MK Public Affairs, Inc all from Eswatini.
The company was awarded in terms of section 45 of the Public Procurement Act No. 7 of 2011 (the Act), following a competitive bidding process.
It must be noted that, in terms of section 45(2) of the Act, the above contract award decision does not constitute a contract.
All tenderers are hereby notified that a period of 10 working days shall be allowed for administrative reviews before a contract is entered into with the best evaluated tenderer.
The scope of work, as stated in the Expression of Interest (EOI) a while ago, the consultancy will be expected to conduct research on the reason for exodus of corporate headquarters in Mbabane, produce an inception report on the proposed research as well as identify potential bottlenecks in Councils business regulatory framework that might hinder business development.
“The scope of work will also identify and compare business retaining practices or strategies with other cities domestically and regionally, to develop a business retention strategy for the city and also present findings to Councillors, Heads of Departments, Senior managers and middle managers,” said the EOI.
The Council further noted that the expected results of this exercise would be the undertaking of a study on the exodus collecting both primary and secondary data.
The Council mentioned that the appointment would be for a period of five months.
Some of the big corporates that have relocated their head offices from Mbabane to other cities include MTN Eswatini and Eswatini Revenue Authority while Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM) and First National Bank (FNB) have also shown interest in relocating their headquarters outside the Capital City.
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