The Mayor of Bonthe Gilbert Caulker has expressed frustration about the seeming abandonment of the project to build them an administrative block.
The construction work started some four years ago under the supervision of the decentralization secretariat with funding from the World Bank.
However the building work has been abandoned prompting Mayor Caulker to express his frustration.
“Construction started without the involvement of stakeholders in the district particularly council authorities and budget oversight committee members,” now that the contractor has abandoned the project nothing has been done towards it, the Mayor queried.
According to Mayor Caulker in Bonthe the decentralization secretariat is not doing much to ensure the speedy completion of the Bonthe Council project by instituting effective monitoring of the contractor’s performance so as to avoid unnecessary delays for councils.
He explained that the lack of adequate office space and furniture has seriously affected the day to day running of council affairs and also undermining the morale of the council to the people because other councils have already started using their offices while the Bonthe Council is still under construction for over four years.
Mayor Caulker said, “Two contractors have taken over the project but the project is still at wall height and there is no progress on the job.” Chairman Moses Probyn of the Bonthe District Council based at Mattru Jong also expressed similar frustration over the protracted delay in completing the projects he says council officers do not even know the contractor. He complained that the Bonthe Council project has been neglected by the Local Government and the World Bank for too long now and there is need for the completion of the project as soon as possible because the council lacks proper office space.
In Kabala the deputy Chair of the council, Councilor Rugie Marrah lamented about the abandonment of the council project by the HCEE contractor for over 4yrs now. She said the council project is long overdue for completion, but nothing visible has been done by the contractor to complete the project with grass and bushes having taken over the project site.
“We are constrained at the Council because most of our staff do not have offices to occupy, they are embarrassingly forced to cramp in the offices of the Chairman and the Council Administrator,” she said, adding that the Kabala council is not happy with the project implementation.
At the Dec-Sec headquarters in Freetown, the Civil Engineer Horratious Gorvie explained that the projects are long overdue as stipulated in the contract agreement, but that funding from the World Bank has not been forthcoming for the completion of the council projects.
He also said that most of the council projects that were funded by the World Bank during the first phase are yet to be completed as only 40% has been handed over to the councils though there are plans to approve funding for another phase of council projects.
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