Roads Fund warns on project deadlines
The Roads Fund Administration (RFA) has advised city councils in the country to strictly observe deadlines in the implementation of projects, emphasising that delayed projects lead to wastage of funds.
RFA board chairperson Bernadette Mandoloma was speaking in Blantyre yesterday when directors of the RFA, Blantyre City Council (BCC) management and ward councillors toured BCC’s street lighting and special city roads rehabilitation projects funded by the Fund.
She said councils should appreciate that the RFA cannot afford to keep idle money in billions of kwacha when there are other projects equally deserving finances; hence, they cannot afford to delay implementation.
Said Mandoloma: “There has been a public outcry on the quality of works being delivered by some contractors and we would like councils to safeguard against poor quality of work. Poor quality of works shows that there is no value for money and we would not want to be part of such things.
“We will, however, jealously safeguard the Roads Fund resources against any abuse and we would like to advise all councils to make sure that the money is properly utilised.”
She said that despite some challenges, the Fund was committed to projects with K7 billion assigned to special city road rehabilitation and street lighting projects in the four cities of Mzuzu, Blantyre, Lilongwe and Zomba.
In his remarks, BCC mayor Wild Ndipo said his council was putting a lot of effort in the project works to ensure that residents get the best infrastructure and value for money.
Out of the K7 billion for the projects, Blantyre has been allocated K2.15 billion for roads.
In the 2016/17 financial year, the Roads Fund also disbursed over K2.15 billion to BCC for city roads rehabilitation, and over K600 million for street lighting.
