Contractors ‘desert’ K50m road projects

National, Normal
Source:

EVAH BANIGE

CONTRACTORS working on the Lae roads in Morobe province have abandoned work due to the unavailability of funds.
Some of these contractors are established companies Dekenai Ahi-Sieng, FTM, JLW and Shorncliffe.
The firms confirmed they had received funding to fix up the ailing condition of the roads in the city.
Dekenai Ahi-Sieng is the only contractor
who said it had
completed 100% of its work.
An engineer with the company said the company had received a K19 million contract to work on the 5km of road
along the Independence Drive.
He said the money was part of the first half of the K50 million funding allocated for the roads
by the Government this year for the stretch of road which begins from the Bumbu Bridge at Omili, the road leading  to the University of Technology main gate.
The road was properly built with drainage.
“Most roads in the city have been in a
deteriorating condition because contractors have been using sub-standard materials,” he said.
“These materials do not help the situation of the roads and are mostly without proper drainage systems.”
Another contractor claimed that road works had stalled because funding had run out.
He said more
funding was needed for his company to completely rehabilitate all sections of roads within the city.
Workmen from the Lae city council were yesterday seen amidst the busy traffic at Top Town, trying to patch up the roads.
After the workmen had completed the job, the road was up in
dust and bumpier than it was in its former bad state.
Provincial administrator Kemas Tomala
had refuted suggestions that the Morobe
provincial government had received, or had knowledge of, the K50 million funding and K25 million that had already been distributed to contractors.