Follow-up committee members have observed that poor roads, bad faith and late disbursement of funds are responsible for the snail-pace implementation of projects.
Two months to the end of the year, the 456 investment projects earmarked for 2011 in the South West Region have barely reached 60 percent physical implementation. The projects, spread across the six divisions, are worth FCFA 5.7 billion. The situation has prompted the Regional Governor, Koumpa Issa, to inspect the projects, ascertain the difficulties being faced and propose appropriate responses.
The first three significant projects visited on October19 in the regional capital, Buea, received the Governor’s satisfaction on their execution pace and the respect of norms. The projects were the 65 percent complete South West Regional Delegation of MINADER worth FCFA 192 million, the 17.2 per cent complete FCFA 95 million Regional Delegation of MINEPAT (first phase), and the 100 per cent complete Molyko-Buea Police Station estimated at FCFA 50 million. The Governor’s team also inspected the water reservoir at the Regional Delegation of Urban Development and Housing.
In meantime, the South West Regional Investment Project Participatory Follow-Up Committee chaired by Honourable Adolph Ngale, also met to establish the level of execution of projects in the region. They came out with a 59.95 per cent physical execution and a 37.24 per cent financial payment so far. In concrete terms, only FCFA 2.1 billion has been disbursed to contractors out of the estimated total cost of FCFA 5.7 billion for 456 investment projects. So far, Meme Division tops the chart of project execution with 84.70 per cent, followed by Fako (77.81), Ndian 71.00 per cent, Manyu 70 per cent, Lebialem 48.35 per cent, while Kupe Muanenguba tails the list with 32.63 per cent.
Excuses came up such as poor roads hindering transportation of construction material as well as the unusual heavy rains this year. The Regional Delegate of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), Ivo Bende, as Secretary to the Follow-Up-Committee, frowned at bad faith and urged contractors who lack means to apply for advance payment of 20 per cent from the public treasury to quickly finish their jobs. Closing the session, Hon. Ngale stressed that the completion of investment projects in the South West would improve livelihoods, health, and with good health, longer life expectancy.
