Main Pujehun road
By Mohamed T Massaquoi
Residents in Pujehun have expressed frustration over protracted delay in ongoing construction of the district headquarter township road.
The construction company First Tricon, formerly T-Mark, a Nigerian owned company, is implementing the project. But some residents are questioning its competence while expressing concern about the chance of the project being competed against the approaching rains.
The 100 percent government-funded project runs through the Pujehun Township, which is district headquarters, to Gobaru, and Yoni.
When construction commenced in 2011 it was 5km, but it was later expanded in 2012 to 7.8km.
Some residents say First Tricon is underequipped, hence its apparent inability to do the job.
Besides the delay, what little work has been done is also a pointer to others that it is substandard work that is being done by the company.
David Koroma, a resident and teacher in the township, alleged that the company lacked the equipment to construct the roads, thereby causing the delay in the completion of the project. And he fears for the worst with the coming rains.
“They have spent more than three years…Honestly, even the few [part of the road] that they have managed to tar shows that [it] is a substandard work that they are doing for us, he said, noting that even though he was no engineer, he could base his judgment on what he saw in other roads been constructed in other parts of the country.
Koroma also picked on the drainage system of the road, citing frequent overflow of water, apparently caused by clogging. He said the government was to blame for the whole situation as they should have known better than awarding the contract to the First Tricon.
“The company is not worth to be given such a contract because they lack the credential and they are operating on raven machines,” he said, explaining that the same machines been used in the Pujehun project are being used in other Tricon projects elsewhere, notably in Moyamba.
Koroma lamented that even with the company`s apparent inability to handle the Pujehun township project, they were again awarded the 16-kilometre Bandajuma road project on the Pujehun-Bo highway.
Mohamed Kallon, a civil society activist with the Health for All Coalition in Pujehun, said the township road project cannot represent any form of development.
‘’The component and composition of the tar is [of] a very poor quality and that is no development for the people of Pujehun,” he said.
“The slow pace of the work has been contributing to vehicle damage over the years,” Kallon added, citing “poor culvert back feeding.’’
The activists told Politico he had once told the contractors about his disapproval of their “poor work for the people.”
“They have even forgotten about the highway project and that will lead to a road cut off,” Kallon observed.
He said all this will undermine the economic strength of the district in terms of businesses, especially for those people who deal in perishable goods.
When contacted, the Managing Director of First Tricon, Paul Oyebole, declined to comment. He referred Politico to the District Engineer of SLRA, saying the Authority was the only authorized people to talk on the matter.
SLRA district engineer, Wilfred Nunie, when contacted blamed government for the delay in completion of the work. But he denied the allegation of substandard work.
“The constrain of the company on the delay of the work had been on the part of the government in failing to provide payment in time for the completion of the work as expected of the people of Pujehun,” he said.
But Nuinie pleaded with the residents to exercise some patience while they seek to finish the job.
When asked by Politico on the other allegations, notably inadequate equipment, he could not comment, and referred us to his regional boss.
© Politico 21/05/15
