Neufville-Wento disclosed that the NRF is intentions with contractors to do a standardized work. Failure on their part, NRF will seize funding from the project until it is corrected.
Monrovia – National Road Fund (NRF) Manager Joseta Neufville-Wento, Joseta Neufville-Wento, has issued a stern warning to contractors involved in road construction projects, emphasizing that payments will be withheld for those failing to adhere to the contract specifications or the Bill of Quantities (BoQ).
By Jaheim [email protected]
Madam Neufville-Wento and her entourage visited several road construction sites, which include the New Matadi Drive, Thinkers Village, Kpelle Town and the Chicken Soup Factory, to ascertain the level of compliance from contractors who were awarded contracts.
Speaking at the end of the visit, Neufville-Wento disclosed that the team observed several detects from the sites, but they have communicated to the Ministry of Public Works, which is responsible for the monitoring and supervision of the ongoing road project, to outline what has been observed.
She emphasized the importance of accountability and the need for all work to meet the agreed standards, stressing that any deviation from the contractual terms will not be tolerated.
Said Neufville-Wento, “We are intentional about ensuring value for money. If you are a contractor and you received money from the government to do a piece and you are not doing it up to standard, we will seize funding from your project until it is corrected. That means you will not get any money for your project.”
She called on contractors who are awarded contracts to do things with intentionality. Accordingly, she stated that the tour of these sites is another step toward NFR compliance as the institution had already made an advance payment.
“We have given them money to mobilize and start doing the work. What we are doing, in terms of compliance, we are doing financial compliance to see whether there is money that we have given them and the work they said they were going to do within the period they are doing it or not.”
She emphasized, “Before they finish their reports to send it to us for payment, if we don’t see those things corrected in the work, even with the contractors implementing, if we do not see it corrected, we will not make payments.”
Neufville-Wento, however, used the tour to call on citizens to take on the responsibility of maintaining development within their communities, as the government has limited resources and a huge demand for development across the country.
She explained that the issue of drainages is a major challenge affecting communities, especially when locals are constantly building on the alley ways and disposing of dirt in drainages, which normally block drainages.
“What we saw in terms of zoning along the major corridor of the roads, we see a lot of encroachment, because if we are doing roads, we have to consider the safety of the roads as well but when we got into the community we see that there is a clear violation of that right of way,” she said.
Adding, “We have this constant garbage disposal problem where communities are disposing into the drainages. Some of the drainages have to be condemned, so the engineers have to design a new one, and even the new ones that they are designing and the ones that are already clean, we see people dumping dirty again.”
