By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, has said the Government of Sierra Leone is set to invest Le349.4 billion in road works across the country. The amount has been set aside by the government in the recently approved supplementary budget for 2020.
On Wednesday, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the government and four of the companies which will be working on the roads. The companies that will be undertaking the works are First Tricon, Gento Construction, SECON, and CSE.
The signing ceremony was done at the Ministry of Finance conference room. Representatives of the Ministry of Finance, SLRA and the Ministry of Works and Public Asset all signed the MoU.
In total 41 critical roads across the country will be rehabilitated. They include Liecester Road, AJ Momoh Street, and Mayenkineh, all in the Western Urban.
Bandajum-Pujehun, Tiama-Njala University, Momaligie Street, were also earmarked rehabilitation among other roads across the country.
The first phase of the works, which is expected to start by October, will focus mainly on township roads. Feasibility studies and resource mobilization for trunk roads is on-going, according to the Finance Minister.
“This shows our commitment to infrastructure. As indicated in the supplementary budget, we want to put some money in to public works,” Saffa said.
“Roads are very important for this administration because roads link very well with the Human Capital Development like accessing schools, health facilities and agriculture. I am pretty sure that up to 10,000 jobs will be created in the process,” he added.
For the pavement of the roads, 25% of the total costs will be paid until government ensures the work completed is equivalent to the money disbursed before more funding is released.
Saffa warned contractors not to take the money and settle arrears.
“Don’t use this money to pay arrears. If you know you have arrears to settle and you can’t take this job without settling them, then don’t sign this MuU. That is why we have set milestones to ensure the work done is equivalent to the money disbursed,” he said.
Minister of Works and Public Asset, Peter Bayuku Conteh, told the contractors that the government will be monitoring their progress keenly, every step of the way.
“Our government is focused on building better roads, based on quality, value for money and on timely implementation. So theses three principles should guide your work going forward,” Conteh said.
SLRA Director General, Amara Kanneh, said the process of selecting the contractors had been rigorous and he believed the contractors have the capacity to pull off the job. He said the SLRA was up to the task to monitor the projects.
“I want to assure you that we are up to the task; we have done that before and we can even do it better this time round,” Kanneh said.
Papa Chendeka is the Chief Executive Officer for SEACON, one of the companies that will be doing the works. He said their track record as a company was enough to guarantee that they will do a good job.
“We want the public to look at the roads we have built; the Atlantic-Juba road, the new bridge that is there, we built it. The Sugarland road, the Babadorie-Gooding Drive road, these are roads that we built; I think the quality of our work speaks for itself,” he told Politico after the signing ceremony.
Chendeka’s company will be doing the JS Momoh Drive, Guana Drive, Sheriff Drive. The contractor said he has 12 months to deliver on the project.
The public works is not just part of government’s supplementary budget, but it is also part of the Quick Action Economic Response Program that was launched in May this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finance Ministry officials say the plan is to rejig the economy in the wake of the pandemic.
The government also says the works also fulfils its initial 2020 budget theme, which is “Fiscal consolidation for job creation and human capital development.”
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