Audit: Funds hijacked

 By JEFFREY ELAPA

WORKS Minister Francis Awesa said an audit into the first stage  of the Lae city roads revealed that there was mismanagement of the contract after it was hijacked.

Awesa said this after the  outburst by Governor Kelly Naru over the delay in the awarding of the Lae city roads contract.

“The government is committed to the K100 million road project in Lae. We want to see quality work by following process and not rushing work as the governor wants ,” he said. He said the the delay was necessary  to correct past mistakes,  abuse and mismanagement of contracts.

“Our audit of the work shows that  K50 million was allocated in the 2010 supplementary budget for Lae City roads,” he said.

“Although it was allocated to the Department of Work, it was hijacked and used without the involvement and knowledge of the Works department.

“Twelve contracts were awarded for a total  of K104,302,198.85 – more than double the allocated amount. 

“The National Government has spent up to well over K280 million including phase one of the project. 

“All contracts were executed under Certificate of Inexpediency arrangements, which means thatthey were not competitively tendered for.

“Our audit indicates there was mismanagement of the contracts in both design and construction and financial aspects of the project. 

“No detailed scope of works, technical drawings, standard works specifications (for the preparation of road base and construction of concrete pavement slabs), quality control management plan, environment management plan and traffic management plan were provided to the contractors. 

“These are the most basic requirements and standard practice for roads construction.”