Kulang Calls for ADB and DOW to Account for the 10.6km Kundiawa Gewa Road Upgrade and Sealing Project

Kundiawa Gembogl MP, Tobias Kulang, is calling on ADB and DOW to account for the incomplete status of the 10.6km Kundiawa Gewa road upgrade and sealing project. He said as per the signed Contract Document, the completion date of the project was October 2013. The engineers estimate of sealing of the 10.6km road was K18 Million, which was at the rate of K1.6 Million per km, Shornclif was the ONLY bidder and bid for K25 Million and awarded the contract which was at the rate of K2.35 Million per km, all variations was to be covered at this rate.

“As Project Managers, ADB and DOW, must now explain to the State and the people of Kundiawa Gembogl why the work is not complete. The completed works include re gravelling for only 50% of the 10.6km, the sealing of the road for only 0.7 km of the 10.6 km road which is only 6.6% of the contract and the final 0.6km of the road is untouched, nothing done at all” Kulang said.

It is understand the contractor, Shornclif, has been paid K18 million already of the K25 million but is now seeking an additional K18 million variation to the contract value to complete the project.

“After spending all this time and money, we are now stuck with this incomplete road, only 0.7km of the road is sealed, that is like 6.6% of the project completed” “The Project Managers and Contractor should all be held responsibleand accountable for this substandard and dismal performance” Kulang said.

The MP is very critical about the role of ADB as part the supervising agent of this project. He said as an internationally reputable development partner, it was expected that they would ensure strict adherence to international best practice as their agents are on the ground on a daily basis but it appears they have not and have failed miserably.

“I will personally meet the in-country Head of ADB and express my disappointment as this is a loan funded project and we the Government of PNG will be repaying this loan with interest into the future eventhough we do not have a 10.6km sealed road” “It is prudent and incumbent upon us leaders and all State’s supervising agents with projects like this to ensure that we derived full value for money.” Kulang said

“Agents of important development partners like ADB, State agencies and contractors must not collaborate and exploit our weak procurement system and non existent Quality Assurance and Quality Control systems for personal gain.” “They have moral obligation to conduct their business above board”. Kulang said.

The MP confirmed that he has engaged private engineers to conduct an independent and preliminary audit of the project and further confirms that he has written and advised the DOW Secretary and Ministers of DOW accordingly about this exercise. Based on the findings of the preliminary audit, the MP confirms that he will request a full scale technical and financial audit on the performance of the contract. 

I now ask the contractor Shorncliff to complete this road before you move on to your next project as you have yet to seal 9.9km of the 10.6km road after you got paid by lump sum. The findings of the preliminary investigations will be released shortly to press and to relevant stakeholders and a full audit will be done on this road as K25 Million for 10.6km road is a lot of money to be squandered and no work done. I want Shorncliff to explain to the people of Kundiawa Gembogl about the state of the road project and also explain to the government of PNG why it should be considered for other construction jobs.