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Monday, October 10, 2011

Probe ordered for Lae roads

By JEFFREY ELAPA

WORKS Minister Francis Awesa has ordered an investigation into the Lae City Council over sub-standard road works carried out there, The National reports.
Awesa has instructed the Department of Works to carry out the investigation before releasing the next K100 million for road repairs in the city.
"If we find out that (the money) was misused, then, we will not release the next K100 million until things are cleared," he said.
Awesa, who has a background in the construction industry, said many small companies were not delivering projects as required.
"The standards are low and is not worth the value of the money spent," he said.
Awesa claimed that the K100 million road development in Lae was wasted and that the government "will now look into the use of the funds".
Awesa said before releasing the next K100 million allocated from the supplementary budget, the Department of Works, which was never involved in the project, "will carry out the investigation".
"The K100 million has done nothing. The quality and the work done were poor and we need to find out how the funds were used before we release the other K100 million."
He said this when announcing a National Executive Council decision to continue the public-private partnership policy to enable the implementation of the country's most needy infrastructure.
The partnership procurement method is seen as the best method the Department of Transport, Works and National Road Authority will apply to implement the government's nominated high impact national interest infrastructure projects in the country.
Awesa said the Lae city roads and the wharf were important
national government impact projects and the quality of work must be considered by the constructors.
He said the investigation was part of the government's move to fight corruption, including misappropriation and mismanagement of funds and resources.

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