Mezam MINEPAT delegate warns recalcitrant contractors

From Leinyuy Marilyn in Bamenda 

 

Heavy sanctions will henceforth be meted out on recalcitrant contractors who have signed contracts and kept in their cupboards. The decision was adopted by statutory members, beneficiary administrators and control engineers as part of resolutions of the third quarter follow-up committee meeting of the public investment budget, PIB, in Mezam, Friday October 10, 2014.

As part of the short term strategies tabled by the committee, the Mezam divisional delegate of economy, planning and regional development, Nana Emmanuel Mbafong said in order to ensure total realization of this year’s PIB, projects below 5MFCFA that were expected to be realized since March but are yet to be completed, shall witness no leniency as his delegation will forward reports to the administration for necessary sanctions.

 He also explained that long-term projects which have not yet been completed for technical reasons should be done as soon as the rains disappear. It was also resolved that projects still at 0% should speed up while all investment projects should be realized before the November 30, with exception for bridges and road projects that are undergoing some setbacks caused by heavy rains.

From statistics, physical realization of PIB in Mezam stands at 66.34%, reason why the the chairman of the follow-up committee, Talikong Amos expressed gratitude and sounded optimistic about the total realization of projects by the end of 2014.

“Even though we are at 66.5%, we are certain that with the rains giving way and the ports blockage uplifted, all other projects will be completely realized for us to achieve the expected physical execution rate at 100%,” Talikong added.

Talikong wondered if the financial capacity of contractors was being taken into consideration before they are awarded contracts because, according to him, if such contractors are financially viable, they would complete their projects even before the rains set in.

Speaking in relation to the sanctions that await mercenary contractors, the chairman said if there is enough evidence to prove that some persons are defaulting projects, they are working at their own detriment as they risk not having chances to be awarded subsequent projects.

Going by reports from the technical follow-up committee, out of the 118 projects that were to be realized in Mezam division, 80 projects have been completely executed, 20 projects have been partially executed while 18 projects have not been executed at all; giving a financial execution rate of 44.66%.

A pictorial presentation of the 2014 physical realization of PIB projects was made by the MINEPAT divisional boss. In the presentation, it was discovered that the PIB had had covered construction works such as classroom, computer laboratories, community halls; rehabilitation works like health centers, offices, fences, schools; general procurement in the likes of supply of office equipments, medical equipments, amongst others.

Quizzed on the sustainability of the above realized projects, Nana Emmanuel said they believe in the state control engineers as they have been on the field on daily basis to ensure that what has been realized are at their best.