South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, in an evaluation meeting in Buea on October 4, 2013, instructed contractors to complete work before leaving the town.
South West Governor and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the Reunification, Bernard Okalia Bilai has banned contractors engaged by the State for execution works at the Buea Mountain hotel and the Parliamentarian Flats hotel from leaving Buea until they accomplish the task assigned them.
The Governor, who was visibly dissatisfied with the state of work at the two hotels, expressed disgust on Friday 4 October in a meeting to evaluate the level of execution of works at the two hotels. The meeting brought together eight out of the ten contracting enterprises, tourism officials and top security operatives in the region.
Governor Okalia Bilai lamented that contractors behave as if they are not aware of their responsibility as they do not want to respect their engagements. He reminded the contractors engaged to equip, install certain facilities, construct pavements and beautify the premises of the hotels that from the time the Head of State announced the Golden Jubilee celebrations for this event, it became obvious that accommodation of guests was a major priority.
This explains why the government allotted huge sums of money for the renovation and extension of the two State hotels in Buea. He also recalled the Head of State's pronouncements on September 30, that the event is being delayed by technical factors thus blaming the contractors for the delay. “Considering the importance of these hotels, any further delay is not accepted,” he averred while ordering National Security officials to arrest and bring to Buea within 48 hours the two contractors who have virtually abandoned their engagements.
“There is still a lot of work to be completed. We have instructed that these contractors will not leave out of this hotel and Buea if these works are not completed because it is long overdue since 2012 to supply equipments and others.
Meanwhile, officials of the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure have started sharpening skills of hotel personnel and other actors in the tourism sector for premium services before, during and after the historic event. A three-day workshop grouping hotel operators, forces of law and order and other actors in the tourism industry in the South West region was organised between the 3-5 October in Buea. The workshop focused on “reception techniques, ethics and tourism statistics.” The Secretary General in the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure, Madam Angeline Florence Ngomo chaired the workshop.
