MBARARA, UGANDA: Multiplex Construction Company Ltd is set to face penalties over their delayed completion of the Mbarara City road works under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development-Additional Financing (USMID-AF).
This was revealed by officials from the World Bank and Ministry of Lands while on a field tour of the road projects in the city. The road works were supposed to end in April last year, but the contract was extended multiple times due to justifiable reasons provided by the contractor.
Isaac Mutenyo, the Project Manager of USMID, says that all extensions have been awarded, but the contractor has failed to meet the deadline, and he is currently in the 100 days of liquidation damages. After this period, some amount of money will be deducted from the agreed contract sum, and if the contractor fails to meet the deadline, the contract will be awarded to another person.
Engineer Moses Bossa, the Director of Multiplex Construction Company Limited, denied being informed that his contract had already entered the liquidation period and said that they had written to the project manager requesting more extension and waiting for a response. He attributed the delays to endless changes in the designs of the project.
However, Mutenyo said that the ministry has evidence that the contractor was fully informed of the progress of his contract obligation.
The first phase of the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Program (USMID) will be coming to an end in December, and the purpose of the tour was to assess whether more funds can be delayed.
The program has been releasing funds, and the World Bank has observed some issues in their flow to the beneficiary entities and their impact on the communities, including how the delay in making funds available to the implementing entities affects the delivery of the works or implementation of the program.
The delays to complete the works have affected the economic status of the city since some businesses along these roads are closed, according to Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, the Mbarara City Mayor.
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