By Mohamed T Massaquoi
Commercial motor drivers and traders including other road users in the Pujehun district, southern Sierra Leone, have expressed dissatisfaction over the 16 kilometer Pujehun and Bandajuma road construction.
They described as deplorable the Pujehun and Bo highway project being implemented by the First Tricon Company, commonly known as T-Mark, along the Pujehun and Bo highway.
Augustine King, one of the commercial motor drivers along the Pujehun and Bo highway, told Politico that “since it has started raining and the First Tricon Company is still too far away from completing the road construction project, by the time we approach August and September there will eventually be a road cutoff”.
He said they have had too much of mechanical problems with their vehicles as a result of the bad road condition that had caused a huge burden on their vehicles.
“In fact the road is full of pot holes and drainages and each time we ply the road we have to visit the garage for maintenance which fees take almost 50% of the money we work for the day,” he complained.
He told Politico that “as this continues some of us have decided to be running in another district or we increase the cost of transportation fare because we will be using the Bagbao road through Sahn Malen and that involves more use of fuel based on the long distance”.
King said that they had spent about one hour from Pujehun to Bo but the company had delayed the process so that this season they are now spending over two hours to cover the same distance.
“This is really a discomfort to us and the passengers,” said King, blaming the delay in completion of the road project on the lack of supervision by government.
Michael Rogers, a trader at the main lorry park in Pujehun, also said: “I trade in liquor and beverages that come in bottles and so my goods get damaged before they reach Pujehun and I have always had arguments with the drivers but we all know it is as a result of the terrible road network,” he said.
He said the problem was with the slow pace at which they were doing road constructions generally“as if they lack the know-how”.
Similar concerns were expressed by Jeneba Rorbai, a business woman who brings in her wares from neighbouring Guinea. She feared that such constraints could lead to high cost of basic commodities in Pujehun especially in the months of August and September.
While all of them also blamed Parliamentarians who hailed from the district for whatever delays in delivery there was, some felt that that could further deepen the unemployment problem.
“We have so many parliamentarians and ministers who are natives of Pujehun but they are not really monitoring the road work,” they said.
The District Council Chairman of Pujehun, Sadiq Silla, told Politico another twelve miles distance road project has been awarded to the said company; that is the Pujehun and Gbondapi road.
The Site Engineer for T-Mark, who would only give his name as Engineer Michael, acknowledged the difficulties the delay in their work has caused on the road but said they couldn’t sit by and allow the road to cut off.
“They [those complaining] are not too far from the truth as this is the rainy season. We actually expect that. But as long as we have our working equipment we will be in place to address whatever challenge we are faced with,” he said.
Michael referred us for response on the very cause of delay in completing the road to his boss in Freetown, who we couldn’t reach.
(C) Politico 09/07/15
