‘Road contractors must be accountable for their work’

Road contractors must be fully accountable for the work they do, according to the Report of the Auditor-General for 2016.
Auditor-General Philip Nauga, in his audit of the National Roads Authority for 2015, expressed concern about road contractors in the Highlands and Mamose regions.
“I noted during my inspection of road maintenance projects in the Highlands region that a particular contractor was awarded three different contracts in Jiwaka, Western Highlands and Southern Highlands,” he said.
“This contractor has used the same equipment across the three provinces which resulted in delays to project completion.
“I queried management whether careful consideration was given in awarding the contracts to one contractor which resulted in delays in completing these projects.”
Nauga said NRA management concurred with him and agreed to take remedial action.
He said during his review of Mamose, he noted very poor work by two contractors for more than K14 million worth of work.
“I noted that the total amount contracted to two separate contractors for respective road sections was K14,129, 418,” Nauga said.
“However, during my inspection, I noted that some sections of the highway were in very poor condition despite incurring substantial amount of funding for these projects.
“As a result, I was not able to confirm whether proper work had been carried out on the project and whether proper inspections and monitoring of the work were carried out by the authority on a timely basis.
“I raised this issue with the management and was advised that poor conditions of the roads were the result of the procurement being delayed by 20 months, the pavement design to cater for low traffic volume and the wet weather around the area.
Nauga raised concern about bank reconciliation, a fixed assets register of more than K5.2 million not being properly maintained, outstanding payroll liability of K7.7 million owing to the Finance Department, non-payment of K1.9 million withholding tax to Internal Revenue Commission and a land deposit of K33,000 which was not accounted for.