Engineer queries audit

Asian Development Bank project engineer on the 10.6 kilometre Kundiawa-Gewa road says contractor, Shorncliffe has performed well on the road redevelopment.
Civil engineer, Emmanuel Kenwai said the rough terrain, increase in cost of goods and equipment, compensation claims and lack of support from the Kundiawa-Gembogl district had hindered development.
He said these were not calculated when scoping was done in 2006 and the K25m contract was awarded in 2012 to Shorncliffe.
He said there was a need for supplementary funding and there was never any counterpart funding from the district.
Kenwai questioned the legitimacy of an independent audit team that was allowed into the district by Kundiawa-Gembogl MP, Tobias Kulang.
The team failed to cross check with the parties involved in the project.
“The project’s counterpart funding from the Kundiawa-Gemgogl MP, Tobias Kulang is yet to be given,” Kenwai said.
“The team that came in to do the audit should have checked with national planning and monitoring, the secretary of works and ADB to do an audit on the contractor.”
“That audit team were electrical engineers and geologists. So how can they assess the job of civil engineers and saying this was a failed project?”
Kenwai said the ADB and Department of Works should have been the ones to say whether the project had failed.
Shorncliffe project manager, Michael Talia said 1.1km of the road had been sealed with the next two kilometres to be sealed by the end of this month. The project will be completed in May.