More than half of the total roads under the management of the Kole district engineering department have remained in an appalling state for long.
A preliminary finding by the District Roads Committee headed by Kole North MP Dr. Samuel Opio Acuti has unearthed several rots in the works department, something that is believed to be a key obstacle to having good roads.
On Monday, May 20, 2024, the committee, together with other leaders including LCV Chief Andrew Awany, RDC Josephine Omara Olili, District Secretary of Works and CAO, ordered the District Engineer Emmanuel Okello to produce the Bill of Quantities (BOQs) for all the roads worked on.
MP Dr. Acuti notes that over the past two years, the committee, which he chairs, has been extremely tolerant and patient with Eng. Okello, even on several occasions where grave observations were made.
In 2021, during the rehabilitation of the 15-km Ngetta-Alito road at a cost of 140 million Ugx, it was observed that 3 km of the road had not been rehabilitated, with no marram applied as per the BOQ.
“The district engineer stated that funds were not fully released as the reason. The then-CAO, however, said that all funds were disbursed and showed proof. Eng. Okello was asked to complete the work, but it has not been done to date,” noted Dr. Acuti.
According to the Committee, during the same time, another section of Ngetta-Alito road was found with about a 4 km stretch where soil instead of marram was used, and this section in Ayara still exists to date with no corrections made by the District Engineer, and several vehicles keep getting stuck here.
In 2023, during the inspection of Ogur-Alito-Aboke road works, it was observed that whereas the BOQ showed 160 liters of fuel to be used per day, the grader operator indicated only receiving about half of this, 80 liters, a move that shocked leaders including the CAO, Kole South MP, District Woman MP, and MP Acuti, who were all present.
“In the same year, during inspection of the Aboke Ginnery to Opeta Road rehabilitation, almost half of the marram found dumped by the contractor was actually soil, and the committee rejected it. The district engineer was instructed to correct this. This has not been done to date, and the contractor was paid. The road has subsequently deteriorated significantly in just a year, with over 100 million Ugx invested,” said MP Dr. Acuti.
The report further revealed that towards the end of last year, the Chair of the District Roads Committee found that the cost per km for rehabilitation being used by the district engineer across all roads was 16.5 million Ugx, including Ogwangadar-Barpii-Ayara, which was way too high.
“At the same time, a contract was awarded to a contractor to work on the Ogur-Alito-Aboke road at a cost of 16.5 million Ugx per km. The district does not incur costs for equipment hire, especially graders, rollers, and tippers; it doesn’t pay tax, has no profit, and therefore can’t have the same rate. An independent assessment by another engineer used by the Committee brought the rate to 10.7 m Ugx per km, similar to what neighboring districts are quoting. Based on this, the engineer revised the figure for the Ogwangadar-Barpii-Ayara tekeo road to 14.5 m Ugx per km, saving 35 m Ugx. This confirmed that the rates were inflated,” reads part of the report.
MP Dr. Acuti noted the District Engineer has since January 2024 refused the committee access to the Bill of Quantities for the works on Ogur-Alito-Aboke road and Ogwangadar-Barpii-Ayara tekeo road despite making a written request. Its now been 4 months and no BOQ has been provided despite several reminders!
MONDAY MONKEY TRICKS BY DISTRICT ENGINEER OKELLO;
In the Monday’s committee meeting, Engineer Okello was asked to provide hard copies of BOQs for the roads worked on and those planned to be worked to justify his costs. He indicated that he only had the soft copy and no power to print. The committee became lenient and asked for the soft copies instead. He claimed to be downloading, but later on said that the computer had failed to download.
Without this, the committee couldn’t proceed to approve the over 1.4 billion Ugx budget for FY 24/25 and accept the accountabilities for work done in FY 23/24. The meeting was adjourned, with some members traveling back to Kampala.
MP Dr. Acuti said the committee, despite the disappointment, became lenient further and has given the district engineer until the end of this week to produce the BOQs and share them with the Chair, DRC.
“I await the BOQs! If we used the 10 m Ugx rate per km for road rehabilitation in other districts, we could almost double the roads being worked on in Kole District!” said Dr. Acuti.
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