Polat Yol Yapi Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S Hasanpasa Mah Uzuncayir Yolu’s contract with the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to construct Muyembe-Nakapiripirit (92km) is hanging by a thread.
Polat Yol Yapi Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S Hasanpasa Mah Uzuncayir Yolu is a Turkish Company contracted to do the said road while Muyembe – Nakapiripirit is a national road located in the North-Eastern part of Uganda, commonly known as Karamoja region and traverses the districts of Bulambuli, Kween and Nakapiripirit.
On 7h November 2019, UNRA awarded the company at a contract price of Shs 399 billion to complete the road works in a period of 36 weeks.
UNRA also appointed SCET Tunisie in Joint Venture with MBW Consulting Ltd as the supervision consultant.
All parties, having met the conditions of the contract preceding commencement, agreed that 30 March 2020 is the date of commencement for the project.
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)-supported project comprises the development of the 92km road by upgrading it to a paved bituminous standard, to improve its motor ability and to facilitate growth within the region. The project also includes improvement of 25km of Secondary Link roads in the region.
The contract has a provision for mobilization of input resources as well as processing the necessary statutory clearances, among other things, to allow the contractor commence works. In addition, the contractor is expected to keep the road motor-able all the time by carrying out forward maintenance, before the actual construction works commence.
However, over a year later, the progress of the work is at 3% as of July 2021.
“With a cumulative physical progress of works at 3% as of July 2021, the contractor’s performance has been assessed and registered as poor by the supervision team, having not completed all the mobilization activities within the scheduled period and not commensurate to the advance payment,” UNRA’s statement reads in part.
Following the notice to correct, UNRA says the authority’s project management team held a meeting with the contractor on 16 March 2021.
Arising out of the meeting, UNRA says “the Contractor, who attributed their slow progress on the restrictions caused by the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19 pandemic, was instructed to prepare a Recovery Action Plan with clear actions and timelines on how they intend to recover the lost time. The Recovery Action Plan was submitted to the Employer on 15 April 2021, and shared with the IsDB.”
According to UNRA, a number of key stakeholders have since raised concerns about the slow progress of the contractor and these concerns have been brought to the attention of the contractor, through a second notice.
Following the second notice, UNRA says the Project Management team held a stakeholders’ meeting in Nakapiripirit on 17 August 2021, to address all concerns on the project. The UNRA Project Management team was led by the Director Roads & Bridges Development, Eng. Samuel Muhoozi and the meeting was attended by Peter Lokeris, State for Minerals in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Development plus a team of Diplomats from the Turkish Embassy in Uganda. Also in attendance were Local Government leadership and MPs from Kween, Bulambuli and Nakapiripirit Districts, representing the communities along the project. The meeting resolved that: UNRA ensures that the contractor adheres to the agreed upon Recovery Action Plan, that would seek to recover the lost time on the project; the Contractor was informed of UNRA’s intention to invoke termination clauses of the contract, should they continue to default on their commitments in the Recovery Action Plan and that UNRA commits to streamlining their relationship with the new leadership in the region, sharing information and updates on the project since a number of leaders who had been engaged prior to project commencement have since left office.
The challenges of the project notwithstanding, UNRA says it is committed to ensuring that the contract is implemented in accordance with its terms and conditions, the project objectives are achieved and that there shall be Value for Money from the contract.