WORK on the Lae roads is grinding to a halt as
contractors await the release of more funds from Treasury to continue the works.
A drive around Lae City revealed some contractors have stopped work altogether while others are only doing the minor works such as footpaths while awaiting funds to commence the major part of the works of concreting the roads they have already started work on.
In the middle of the central business district a dispute between the contractor and the government believed to be over payments has led to the work being completely stopped for months.
In December 2010 then acting prime minister Sam Abal announced in Lae that the Government would spend K117 million to fix the deteriorating Lae roads and put an end to the pot hole city tag which has become an embarrassment for the people of Lae.
Since then money had been flowing in and Lae was beginning to see positive changes to its road network.
The then Treasurer (now Prime Minister) Peter O'Neill on the previous visit to Lae with Mr Abal called on public servants to do their job and deliver services in ensuring that the Lae roads were fixed once and for all.
Mr O'Neill said the condition of the Lae roads was a national shame and the government wanted the right contractors to be given the contract to fix the roads.
There should be no more excuses about funds because money is now available, he said.
Mr O'Neill said he would personally make sure funds were released and spent properly to fix the Lae roads.
In mid-September last year, Mr O'Neill returned to Lae as Prime Minister where he met the business community and announced that the government was injecting another K100 million into fixing Lae roads under the 2012 National Budget.
This was to be on top of the K170 million already announced to be spent on the roads.
Two months into 2012 and no funds have yet been released for the works to continue.
Towards the end of last year Mr O'Neill also announced that an investigation was being held into how funds for the Lae roads rehabilitation project were spent, whether correctly and the intended outcomes achieved.
He said future contracts for Lae roads would be based on open tender.
In March last year the Member for Lae Bart Philemon who was the Deputy Opposition Leader then predicted that the cost of fixing the Lae roads would reach K170 million but tax payers would not get value for their money.
He accused the former Somare government of not following the normal transparent process in awarding contracts for Lae roads.
Both Mr O'Neill and Mr Abal were part of the former Somare regime and played leading roles in getting funds for the Lae roads.
Mr Philemon is now the Minister for Public Service in the new O'Neill government.
Mr Philemon said then that the former government had not awarded the contracts based on open tender.
He said it used a less transparent process through the Certificate of Inexpediency (COI) in hand picking contractors through selective tendering,
Mr Philemon, who is a former Treasurer and Finance Minister (until sacked by Sir Michael in 2004) and former Works and Transport Minister, said the COIs are used only in exceptional, justifiable cases (like an emergency) which was not the case with the Lae roads.
Mr Philemon said it was true that the Lae roads were bad but were not in a state of national emergency to warrant the government to act in that manner.
Mr Philemon said the Government 's use of this selective tendering in a case that did not seem warranted had resulted in the following:
* The use of funds for the projects that were poorly planned;
* The engineering supervision is poorly coordinated and managed; and
* The whole program is poorly designed.
Overall it appears that no scope of work at all has been done and consequently there is no uniformity of works that have been completed by the many different contractors, Mr Philemon said then.
Recently Prime Minister O'Neill ordered an investigation into the spending of funds for the Lae roads.
A report was prepared but to date it remains a government secret.
A drive around Lae City revealed some contractors have stopped work altogether while others are only doing the minor works such as footpaths while awaiting funds to commence the major part of the works of concreting the roads they have already started work on.
In the middle of the central business district a dispute between the contractor and the government believed to be over payments has led to the work being completely stopped for months.
In December 2010 then acting prime minister Sam Abal announced in Lae that the Government would spend K117 million to fix the deteriorating Lae roads and put an end to the pot hole city tag which has become an embarrassment for the people of Lae.
Since then money had been flowing in and Lae was beginning to see positive changes to its road network.
The then Treasurer (now Prime Minister) Peter O'Neill on the previous visit to Lae with Mr Abal called on public servants to do their job and deliver services in ensuring that the Lae roads were fixed once and for all.
Mr O'Neill said the condition of the Lae roads was a national shame and the government wanted the right contractors to be given the contract to fix the roads.
There should be no more excuses about funds because money is now available, he said.
Mr O'Neill said he would personally make sure funds were released and spent properly to fix the Lae roads.
In mid-September last year, Mr O'Neill returned to Lae as Prime Minister where he met the business community and announced that the government was injecting another K100 million into fixing Lae roads under the 2012 National Budget.
This was to be on top of the K170 million already announced to be spent on the roads.
Two months into 2012 and no funds have yet been released for the works to continue.
Towards the end of last year Mr O'Neill also announced that an investigation was being held into how funds for the Lae roads rehabilitation project were spent, whether correctly and the intended outcomes achieved.
He said future contracts for Lae roads would be based on open tender.
In March last year the Member for Lae Bart Philemon who was the Deputy Opposition Leader then predicted that the cost of fixing the Lae roads would reach K170 million but tax payers would not get value for their money.
He accused the former Somare government of not following the normal transparent process in awarding contracts for Lae roads.
Both Mr O'Neill and Mr Abal were part of the former Somare regime and played leading roles in getting funds for the Lae roads.
Mr Philemon is now the Minister for Public Service in the new O'Neill government.
Mr Philemon said then that the former government had not awarded the contracts based on open tender.
He said it used a less transparent process through the Certificate of Inexpediency (COI) in hand picking contractors through selective tendering,
Mr Philemon, who is a former Treasurer and Finance Minister (until sacked by Sir Michael in 2004) and former Works and Transport Minister, said the COIs are used only in exceptional, justifiable cases (like an emergency) which was not the case with the Lae roads.
Mr Philemon said it was true that the Lae roads were bad but were not in a state of national emergency to warrant the government to act in that manner.
Mr Philemon said the Government 's use of this selective tendering in a case that did not seem warranted had resulted in the following:
* The use of funds for the projects that were poorly planned;
* The engineering supervision is poorly coordinated and managed; and
* The whole program is poorly designed.
Overall it appears that no scope of work at all has been done and consequently there is no uniformity of works that have been completed by the many different contractors, Mr Philemon said then.
Recently Prime Minister O'Neill ordered an investigation into the spending of funds for the Lae roads.
A report was prepared but to date it remains a government secret.
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