District project on hold

 THE Toma-Ratunur road in the Gazelle district, East New Britain, is 90% complete, provincial works manager Paul Pitaro says.

Pitaro and G-Man Construction Ltd were responding to a statement by Sir Paulias Matane calling for an investigation into the project.

Pitaro said the original scope of the project was for an 8km stretch of the Toma-Ratunur road under the 2008 supplementary budget.

He said while waiting for the contract to be awarded, the scope was adjusted. It included an increase in quantity, which forced a reduction from 8km to 6.8km.

Pitaro said the 6.8km was completed by G-Man as the contractor and was now awaiting re-sealing (second coat) and line marking.

He said the delay in the project was because of issue with the Finance Department. Many projects around the country under the 2008 supplementary budget had been forced to stop because of the same problem.

“G-Man Construction has done a great job, however, the State is yet to raise their claims of five months,” he said.

Pitaro said the Works Department had played its part in checking the work done and certifying the claims.

G-Man’s managing director William Leves and project manager Rommie Waiut said the main reason for the temporary stop-work on the road was because of the delay in payment for the work done.

“The company is determined to complete this project but we cannot do that at the moment without funds. Once our claims are raised, we will re-seal the road and do land marking to complete the project,” Waiut said.