Lutombi unhappy about delayed roadworks
Project behind by more than two months
The project involves the upgrading of a 16.3-kilometre stretch of road, and began in October last year.
Roads Authority (RA) CEO Conrad Lutombi is not impressed with slow progress on a road upgrade in the Oshikoto Region.
This after the RA and the Road Fund Administration (RFA) last week made a trip to inspect ongoing construction on the Engoyi-Omuntele road.
The project involves the upgrading of a 16.3-kilometre stretch, and began in October last year. The construction was due to be completed by September, but according to Lutombi, the project is behind by two-and-a-half months.
So far, only N$5 million of the allocated N$43 million for the project has been spent.
"An amount of N$20 million should have been spent on the project thus far. This is unacceptable as it is a setback for the community which requires service delivery," he said, adding that only six kilometres of the 16-kilometre road has been worked on.
"I am not happy, and I made it very clear during the meeting with the contractor and the consultant, as well as the one official who is on this project. We need to pull up our socks," he said.
Follow-up
The RA will do another follow-up to check on the project's progress in May, Lutombi said, and will in the meantime issue the contractor a 21-day notice to accelerate the development without compromising on quality.
"And those officials, we hold them accountable to make sure that they are on the project. We can't stay in the office. Our work is here. If people are sitting in the office and there is a delay and we are coming from Windhoek to come and find this, we cannot tolerate that, and we are serious about that. If people don't want to work, they must go and find a job somewhere else,” Lutombi fumed.
Roads Contractor Company (RCC) acting CEO Dasius Nelumbu guaranteed that the project will be completed by September as promised.
He added that they will redouble efforts to ensure the project is completed on time, even if it means they need to bring in a second or a third team to meet the deadline.
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This after the RA and the Road Fund Administration (RFA) last week made a trip to inspect ongoing construction on the Engoyi-Omuntele road.
The project involves the upgrading of a 16.3-kilometre stretch, and began in October last year. The construction was due to be completed by September, but according to Lutombi, the project is behind by two-and-a-half months.
So far, only N$5 million of the allocated N$43 million for the project has been spent.
"An amount of N$20 million should have been spent on the project thus far. This is unacceptable as it is a setback for the community which requires service delivery," he said, adding that only six kilometres of the 16-kilometre road has been worked on.
"I am not happy, and I made it very clear during the meeting with the contractor and the consultant, as well as the one official who is on this project. We need to pull up our socks," he said.
Follow-up
The RA will do another follow-up to check on the project's progress in May, Lutombi said, and will in the meantime issue the contractor a 21-day notice to accelerate the development without compromising on quality.
"And those officials, we hold them accountable to make sure that they are on the project. We can't stay in the office. Our work is here. If people are sitting in the office and there is a delay and we are coming from Windhoek to come and find this, we cannot tolerate that, and we are serious about that. If people don't want to work, they must go and find a job somewhere else,” Lutombi fumed.
Roads Contractor Company (RCC) acting CEO Dasius Nelumbu guaranteed that the project will be completed by September as promised.
He added that they will redouble efforts to ensure the project is completed on time, even if it means they need to bring in a second or a third team to meet the deadline.
- [email protected]
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