Firm instructions have been issued to Regional Delegates of Public Works on the imminent annulment of some contracts.
The Minister of Public Contracts, Emmanuel NganouDjoumessi, has stated inter-alia that contracts that have exceeded execution deadlines with less than 75 per cent of work done will henceforth be cancelled and awarded to different contractors. The Minister held a video conference in Yaounde yesterday, June 27, 2016, with his central and devolved staff, to assess progress made on the maintenance of roads in Cameroon. He was firm on the need to cancel 2008-2010 contracts that were not 100 per cent complete, insisting that such contracts were not supposed to continue.
He explained that it was inadmissible for people to go around claiming to be contractors in road construction while work on the field was not advancing. He concluded that defaulting companies will be served warning notices, 21 days after which the contracts will be withdrawn and awarded to companies whose records on road maintenance were convincing.
The financial implications were evident, with the Public Works boss stating that contractors who have received payments will reimburse in case such contracts are invalidare and given out to different contractors. “We will respect rules and regulations. We will recover money kept in banks,” Minister NganouDjoumessi stressed. He cautioned delegates to remain vigorous in the production of accounts with regard to services provided on the field.
The 2016 road maintenance programme provides almost 91 Billion FCFA for 730 km of paved roads, 8,877 km of earth roads linking highways and over 2,580 km of rural roads. Information from yesterday’s conference revealed that only FCFA 11 billion FCFA of the 91 billion FCFA has been paid for road maintenance. Over 8 billion FCFA and 2 billion FCFA of the 11 billion FCFA has been spent on road maintenance and emergency works respectively.
The level however, remains unsatisfactory, with officials stating that over 32 billion FCFA is expected to be disbursed every month to meet the year’s calendar of activities. The Minister is looking at possibilities to have the 2017 road maintenance programme ready by August this year so as to quicken contract signing with focus on speeding up the level of execution of road maintenance projects and meeting government objectives of facilitating the movement of goods and services.
