PPDA commends Dott Services over Tirinyi road works

Mar 01, 2019

PPDA Executive Director, Benson Turamye, however, commended Dott Services for the exemplary workmanship they had shown during the renovation of the 100 kilometer Nakalama-Tirinyi-Mbale following their reinstatement in April 2018.

INFRASTUCTURE

Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) has raised a red flag over the construction of the 104 km Musita-Lumino-Busia-Majanji road worth sh204b warning that it may not last its intended design life of 15 years due to heavy traffic.

PPDA Executive Director, Benson Turamye, however, commended Dott Services for the exemplary workmanship they had shown during the renovation of the 100 kilometer Nakalama-Tirinyi-Mbale following their reinstatement in April 2018.

Turamye, who was speaking at Dott Services Tirinyi Quarry site during an impromptu visit together with a team of officials and board member from PPDA on Tuesday, noted that they were impressed with the workmanship, commitment by the contractor and also the super visionary works Uganda National Roads Authority(UNRA) had conducted.

"Our general overview on the Nakalama-Tirinyi-Mbale road is that the project is going on well. The designs and workmanship gives one hope that the road will last for long. We are also happy with the progress so far made. I am happy to note that the payments have been done timely and there are no issues of Project Affected Person," Turamye said.

He, however, called upon sister organisations like the National Water and Sewerage Corporation and Umeme to relocate or give certificate of relocation for the amenities, which is still affecting the implementation of project especially in Budaka town.

He also wondered why the Tirinyi Road which was being supervised by UNRA's in house construction and supervision department under the Directorate of Roads and Bridge was performing much better that the Musita-Lumino under a private consultant noting there was need to dig deeper.

"We are going to have discussions with UNRA especially on the issue of design and pavement finishing of the Musita-Lumino Road on whether they can add another layer of Asphalt on top of the already laid layers. The road is a short cut from Busia and the traffic on that road is going to increase and it may not last long," Turamye added.

He also noted that the contractors - China Railway 18th Bureau (Group) Co. Ltd had raised the issue of delayed payments and that some of their certificates due had taken three months without payment, warning that this had implications on the tax payer.

"It means that Government is going to pay a lot of interest. What is the cause of the delay? The interest accrued on those certificates is enormous and that is not acceptable. We want to establish where the problem is. Is the Ministry of Finance not releasing funds? Is it the problem of having funds and then processing taking long? Or is it an issue of corruption," Turamye noted saying he was willing to take on the parties involved.

 
Turamye said the Musita-Lumino-Busia-Majanji Road had issues of delayed designs, which was impacting on the speed of work. He also raised fears that the cost of this particular road would increase by over 50% after the contractor raised new demands.

UNRA's project manager for the Mbale-Tirinyi Road, Moses Ewama said that the contractor had adhered to all his contractual duties and that his physical progress now stood at 30.33% achieved against 38.83% planned to date, however, when we measure output of the critical parameters of Asphalt surfacing and cross drainage, it was observed that the works are ahead of schedule. "We are dealing with a totally different type from the previous one and we are supervising it ourselves. We are closely supervising the contractor and he is following all our instructions," Ewama said.

Ewama noted that previously, they had a challenge of design because of change of scope from maintenance to rehabilitation but that they had furnished Dott Services with all the necessary design work to ensure that the works went on smoothly.

UNRA had earlier on cancelled both contracts for the Nakalama-Tirinyi-Mbale and the Musita-Lumina-Busia-Majanji Road but they were later reinstated.

The Nakalama-Tirinyi-Mbale Road is approximately 100 Km, with a double bituminous surfacing. The road links the North Eastern parts of Uganda (Mbale, Sebei and Karamoja) to the South Eastern and Central parts of Uganda.

On  March 23, 2018, UNRA entered into a consent agreement with Dott Services Limited to complete the outstanding works on Nakalama - Tirinyi-Mbale Road. Dott Services Limited was accordingly issued works commencement order and site possession in April 2018.

Dott Services manager, Eng. James Olonya noted that they had more than enough equipment and that the road will be delivered in time. "As a company, we have never had any challenge with resources, either personnel or equipment," Olonya said.

He noted the initial contract was supposed to be overlay of Asphalt and minimal drainage works but after the reinstatement and discovery by UNRA, the main base was not strong and had reached its design life.

"We then required putting 250 millimeters of crush stone and the existing tarmac is milled to become the new base. Besides that, the entire drainage on the road is being addressed," Olonya said.

He also noted that they had put in place a lot of signage's to warn motorists who were using the road.

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