The Honourable Member of Parliament (MP), for the Bole- Bamboi constituency, Yusif Sulemana (Ori), has dragged the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta to parliament over abandoned construction works on the Bole town roads among others.
Work on the Bole town roads project which is under the department of urban roads was awarded in 22nd April, 2016, and expected to be completed on 1st June, 2017, have come to a stalled for almost a year now.
In view of the delay in completion, the MP for the constituency who is also a deputy ranking member of Parliament Select Committee on Trades and Industry, filed a question in parliament for the minister for Roads and Highways to appear before the house to explain why the said projects could not be completed on schedule.
“Mr Speaker, I rise to ask the Minister for Roads and Highways why the following roads have not been completed, thus; Dakurpe- Kibilma road, Mandari- Chache road, Bamboi- Chibrinyo- Babator road and Bole town roads”, Hon Yusif asked .
The Minister for Road and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta, in his answer said, the 25 km Bamboi- Chibrinyo-Babator feeder road is a gravel surface road in fair condition.
He said currently there is no major rehabilitation on the road but routine maintenance has been scheduled on the road to keep it motorable.
He added that moving into the future, engineering studies and estimate upgrading of the road have been completed and would be considered under the 2022 department of feeder roads budget.
Touching on the Bole township roads, the sector Minister told parliament that the 5km roads contract was awarded in 22nd April, 2016, with work starting on 1st June 2016 and was expected to be completed by 1st June, 2017.
According to him the contractor requested for an extension of time which was granted and valid till 22nd June, 2021.
He added that progress of work is projected at 18% physical completion but has been stopped and the contractor has vacated site due to delay in payments.
The minister indicated that warning letters have been written to the contractor to return to work or have the contract abrogated for non- performance and to be repackaged and re- awarded to a different contractor at the elapse of the duration.
On the upgrading of the Bole- Sonyor, 7km road, the minister said the road is planned for execution under a 24 calendar month, however the project is yet to be signed under a contract.
On the Bamboi- Babator road, the MP disclosed that a company called AgDevco company Limited working on the Babator farms has been able to seek funding support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the UK (FCDO-UK) to reshape the 28.5km Bamboi to Babator road in the Constituency and now waiting on the Ministry of Roads and Highway to agree on maintaining the road every year for 10 years.
According to him he and management of the company had visited the sector minister office on several occasions but haven’t received any favourable response because the project is time bound.
The minister in response said he will check on the said project and indicated that it is a welcoming idea since it is a grant, technically means it is free and said he will cross-check it together with the MP so as not to elapse the expiration date of the project.
The MP, inconclusion wasn’t happy with the Minister’s response as he indicated that the time for the project has elapsed after he met the minister severally on the project and received no response.
Source: yagbonradioonline
