By Mustapha Sesay
The Chief Executive Officer of the Road Maintenance Fund Administration (RMFA) says Le 56 billion has been approved for road maintenance nationwide.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Abdul Kalokoh said part of the money would go towards “patching potholes” on 23 streets and overlaying of 25 others within Freetown.
He said Le 9 billion had been allocated to 17 local councils for the first time, for the maintenance of rural feeder roads, adding that 15% of the amount had been disbursed already to the councils. He pointed out that the "allocation and disbursement is consistent with the government’s policy and devolution of maintenance of rural feeder roads to local councils."
Kalokoh denied any wrongdoing for the poor state of the roads saying “SLRA draw up its work plans and what we do is to monitor and evaluate the importance of the proposed project and based on the available resources, we disburse." Quoting the Road Maintenance Fund Administration Act, he said SLRA was supposed to submit its proposal in October of every.
He said funds for the RMFA did not come from the consolidated fund but rather from levies on every litre of fuel bought and the registration of vehicles, adding that the ministry of finance only supervised their activities.
The Road Maintenance Fund Administration has been in existence since 1992 within the SLRA but was separated by an act of parliament in 2010 to ensure transparency and accountability.
(C) Politico 31/10/13
