Wilkinson Road Project Full of Lies

Works Minister Alimamy

Provoked by recent utterances by the Minister of Works, Housing and Infrastructure, Alimamy P. Koroma, this piece seeks to expose the numerous lies and irregularities that have plagued the Wilkinson Road Project being undertaken by a Chinese Construction Company called China Railway Seventh Group.

Just a couple of days ago, Minister Koroma stormed the weekly government press briefing to ‘assure’ the general populace that the Wilkinson Road Project would the completed soon. He furthered that the completed road would be commissioned in October this year.

Minister Koroma blamed the delay in completing the road work on traffic jam and utility companies including Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC), National Power Authority (NPA) and Sierratel. According to him, the work being undertaken by the aforementioned utility companies, vis-à-vis, transfer of their facilities from the right of way to suitable positions, is serving as a major impediment towards the speedy completion of the road.

The above mentioned assertions can only be best described as ‘true lies’ similar to ones being made in the past by certain government officials.

Before critically analyzing the comments of the Minister, let us first and foremost reflect on the timeframe and general irregularities that have so far marred the project under review.

The Wilkinson Road Project, which officially kick-started on July 2010, was supposed to end on July 2011. However, the overall contract agreement, including the sum involved in the contract, remained in absolute secrecy. There are also worrying revelations that the contract between the Government of Sierra Leone and the Chinese Company flouted national procurement rules and regulations.

With this background, the first statement that was expected from the Minister is to tell the people of this country that the China Railway Seventh Group has breached the contract agreement by exceeding its one-year timeframe. He was further expected to announce punitive actions against the Chinese Company for flouting the contract agreement.

Disappointingly however, Minister Koroma, by his utterances, succeeded in portraying himself as the public relations officer of the Chinese company. His public relations undertaking only succeeded in doing more harm than good, as a result of the flimsy excuses and fake assurances he forwarded on behalf of the Chinese Company. Little wonder that these Chinese contractors always treat journalists with utter contempt whenever they are approached for comments on the Wilkinson Road Project. They always tell journalists to “go and ask government” for clarifications on the project. Even when you ask them to tell you when are they expecting to complete the work, they will tell you “go and ask government”. Can the government clearly explain the type of agreement it signed with these Chinese people that they (the Chinese Company) cannot even speak to journalists but rely on the government to serve as their public relations agent?   

Also, does the minister expect his excuse, suggesting that the utility companies were responsible for the delay in completing the work, to hold sway, when the fact remains that the work to be done by those utility companies were supposed to have reflected in the contract agreement, especially with regards to timeframe? Or does the minister want us to believe that the various parties to the contract never took cognizance of the fact that NPA, GVWC and Sierratel had their poles, pipes and cables planted along the new right of way? Some of us are even beginning to think that these utility companies were never contacted prior to the commencement of the contract. This belief is based on the fact that NPA, GVWC and Sierratel only moved in to relocate their facilities at a time when the demolition of structures along the right of way, including poles, cables, transmitters and pipes, had already commenced. The aforementioned occurrence succeeded in subjecting Wilkinson Road and its environs to months of blackout and water crisis. What a bad contract!

These utility companies should have been the first to relocate their properties prior to the commencement of any professional road work. But this was not the case with the Wilkinson Road Project. It was only after the Chinese Contractors had damaged a considerable amount of government property that the utility companies rushed in to repair the damage and save the remaining government property. 

A glance at the Wilkinson Road Project speaks volume of the fact that there is no possibility to complete that work by October, as the minister wants people to believe. I can even bet the Minister that the Wilkinson Road project would not be complete by October. He knows it himself, and it is widely believed that the proffered excuse was just meant to save time for another excuse. No one will doubt another excuse in November suggesting that the failure to complete the road in October was due to the rains. Interesting eh!

Another dubious undertaking by the Chinese people is the removal of the contract sign boards at a time when the contract expiration date was fast approaching. The sign boards indicating the contractor, project financier, start and completion dates et al, which were erected in Lumley and somewhere around Cockeril, mysteriously disappeared by the end of May 2011.

Unfortunately for them was the reality that everybody was already au fait with the fact that the road was to be completed by July 2011.

Is this why these Chinese people now refuse to indicate the start and completion dates on the Spur Road contract? Yes, the China Railway Seventh Group had already commenced work on the road starting from Lumley to Hill Cut junction, but the start and completion dates remain blank on the contract signboards. What a complete disrespect for the country’s procurement laws that demands explicit display of such details!

The least said about the professionalism of the work being undertaken by the Chinese company on the Wilkinson Road the better, because the work has already started deteriorating even before it is complete. Bottom line, I doubt the durability of the work being done at Wilkinson Road.

This latest false assurances and flimsy excuses by the Works Minister did not come as a surprise to some of us who have long detected the lies being spilled out for public consumption by government officials with regards the Wilkinson Road project. In summary, the Wilkinson Road project started with lies and irregularities and the continuation of such lies and irregularities must not surprise anyone.

By Abdul Karim Fonti Kabia