The Chinese company which recently built a $10 million plus tålā bridge in Samoa has been blacklisted by the World Bank and has ceased carrying out any more work locally.
Samoa Observer reports the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labor said the company, China Railway First Group Samoa Company Limited, has been removed, effective August 12, 2020.
It’s believed the company has been blacklisted until September 2021 during which time they cannot bid for further World Bank financed projects.
The project that led to its blacklisting was designed to facilitate the expansion of the electricity supply of hydropower in Pakistan.
According to M.C.I.L. records, Yong Qiao and Jie Wu were the shareholders and directors of the company and it was first incorporated in Samoa in 2014.
In 2017, the China Railway First Group Samoa Company Limited officially opened the reconstructed Leone bridge that had been destroyed by flooding brought by Cyclone Evan in 2012.
The company had also been awarded the contract to build the Mali’oli’o Bridge in Savaii but it voluntarily withdrew from the project that was later awarded to local company, Ah Liki Construction.
Photo: Samoa Observer
