Contractor confident of delivering bridge

 By MALUM NALU

THE contractor charged with building the controversial Wasa Bridge over 320m of swamp and marshland in Kandep, Enga, says it is confident of delivering despite many impediments.

Chief executive of Clean-Green Energy Ken Sop-Lepen gave this assurance at the launching of the project by Works Minister Francis Awesa last Friday.

The project has been shrouded in controversy with allegations of millions of kina being spent over the last couple of years, with K35 million allocated in the 2014 Budget.

This money will support further scoping work alone with the project expected to cost many more millions of kina.

Sop-Lepen said his company was working with Japanese expertise on the project,

“We have had impediments at the Wasa Bridge for a very long time,” he told senior government ministers, MPs, bureaucrats and the people of Kandep at the project site.

“Supported by the Treasurer (Kandep MP Don Polye), and the minister (Awesa), we have been given this opportunity to prove ourselves that regardless of the circumstances and the geo-tech, we want to deliver a value-for-money infrastructure in this country.

“We have proven that with the Tagali Bridge and I’m sure we can deliver a bridge under any circumstances whatsoever.

“What we’re trying to do now is to check the soil profile, geo-tech and from the geo-tech we will design the structural infrastructure for the bridge and then we’ll do the actual fabrication and will advise the government on the costs.

“Hopefully, we’ll do a value-for-money project that won’t be inflated and make the people … proud,” he said.