Kibaale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Authorities in Kibaale district have given a one-month ultimatum to KWIK build contractors and Engineering Limited to finish the construction of Nyamarwa Seed school in Nyamarwa sub county, Kibaale district.
KWIK Build Contractors and Engineering Ltd who haven’t been quick at their work were contracted by government in 2019 to construct the seed school and works were supposed to have been completed in December 2020 but to date, the seed school has never been completed.
The 1.8 billion shillings seed school project according to the bills of quantities was to include construction of classrooms blocks, administration block, ICT block, science laboratory, pit latrines, fencing of the school and leveling of the sports field.
However, Vincent Gedi, the LC3 chairperson Nyamarwa sub county is irked by the slow construction of the school attributing it to rampant laying down of tools by the workers over non payments by the contractor.
He wonders why the contractor would mistreat his workers by not paying them, leading to a delay in the completion of the project yet government is fully financing the construction of the school.
Dorothy Ajwang, the Kibaale Chief administrative officer-CAO says the contract period for the construction of the seed school has elapsed and they have only given a one-month ultimatum to the contractor to have completed the work or else his contract be terminated.
According to Ajwang, the contractor must do every thing possible to ensure that the school is handed over to the government by November 30th 2021.
Caroline Kashaiza Muyambi, the deputy RDC Kibaale says they are committed to conducting routine supervision to ensure that the contractor hands over the school next month, adding that if the contractor fails to hit the deadline, then government will take action against the KWIK build.
The company director Patrick Isagara says the construction of the seed school was greatly affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 that compelled them to hold work for months. However, construction work was always encouraged during both lockdowns and have never been stopped by government.
When URN visited the construction site on Friday evening, only two workers were found sitting idle without doing any work adding that their colleagues left two weeks ago due to delayed payments and lack of food.
“We are also on the verge of leaving this place because we can not work without being paid on top of that the contractor has not sent us food for the last two weeks and this is the situation we are going through;” said the two hungry workers.
This is not the first time KWIK build contractors and engineers company limited are on the spotlight.
The contractors were also on the spot over shoddy work at Kigorobya Seed secondary school in Hoima district and Nyairongo Seed Secondary school in Kikuube district.
The company owned by Patrick Isagara; a resident of Hoima City is accused of executing shoddy works on the two projects.
During his impromptu visit to monitor different government projects in Bunyoro, the state minister for Economic Monitoring Peter Ogwang discovered several defects on the buildings even before they are commissioned.
Ogwang noted that Nyairongo seed secondary school had developed big cracks on the floor, in the laboratory and on the ceiling. Though there are still uncompleted works on the project, the contractor was paid 98% of the 1.8 billion Shillings.
Ogwang noted that the walls have also developed cracks, adding that the material used during the construction was substandard.
According to Ogwang, similar defects were discovered at Kigorobya seed secondary school which was constructed at 1 Billion Shillings.
Ogwang demanded that the Ministry of Education carry out a forensic audit on most of the government projects implemented by Kwik Build Contractors.
He vowed to petition Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets to ensure that the company is blacklisted on the list of companies doing work with the government. The district administrators have not explained how the company was awarded the contract given its record.
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