By Pat Kawa In Bo
Many residents of Bonthe District, south of Sierra Leone, have expressed their dissatisfaction and disappointment over the ineptitude of the First Tricon Construction Company to construct the Bonthe township roads and the sea face of the Island.
Chairman, Bonthe District Budget Oversight Committee of the Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Abdulia M.S. Kanneh, told the nightwatch that they, as a committee, are not impressed with the company’s initial work so far. They noted that First Tricon has fallen way below what was expected in terms of constructing quality roads within the township of Bonthe.
First Tricon, he continued, would in no way match with the New Direction’s quest for quality roads, noting that the company has not been keeping to quality assurance
He cited key roads within the township, which they, as a committee, are quite not satisfied with. They include Madina Street, Victoria Road, Nathan Street, Coulson Street, Pain and Mary Streets and Morphan Island, including sea face.
He told this medium that they have received quite a number of complaints from residents in almost all the streets under construction. In fact, the issue of quality and durability of the roads have featured prominently in all of these.
The company has also been accused of having constructed poor drainages, slabs and culverts, noting that the longevity of such structures is questionable.
Mr. Kanneh explained further that 75% of the roads contract for the township of Bonthe was awarded to the First Tricon Company. Most of these, he went on, are either not completed or where they have started they are not properly constructed.
First Tricon, it will be recalled, is facing many challenges, including a limited workforce, transportation equipment and machineries. Transporting materials from the Yargor Harbor to the Island is also very much challenging and hampering efforts towards the construction process.
Workers for the company have also complained of lateness in payment of salaries. Very recently casual workers working for the company in Bonthe have staged a sit down strike demanding for timely payment and increment in salaries before they could resume work.
Works Engineer, Bonthe Municipal Council, Gibrila Issa noted that the operations of First Tricon Company in the District are very much fraudulent. The company, he noted, is packed full with wheeler-dealers that have presented a deceptive picture to both Government and the people that they are up to the task.
“First Tricon cannot even afford standard and proper equipments. Most of their machinery is old and outdated, not to talk about the concrete mixer machine they are currently using for the work,” the district engineer noted.
A community elder, Abu Boima, also expressed disappointment with regards the operations of the First Tricon Company. He observed that First Tricon Limited is not the right contractor for the job, stating that Government should review the decision of awarding the contract to the company against the backdrop that they do not have the capacity to handle the huge quantum of work involved in constructing these roads.
First Tricon has bagged over 70% of the over 500 billion leones allocated by Government for the continuation of the townships roads inherited from the previous administration in the Western Area, South and Eastern parts of the country.
For Bonthe alone, First Tricon attracts over forty roads within the Bonthe Municipality, including the sea face of Bonthe. The company is reportedly been jointly owned by big guns in the SLPP ruling government, which explains why it has continued to bag more contracts even when they do not have a history of having constructed quality roads.
It has become very evident that First Tricon does not have the capacity to undertake roads as they lack both the machinery and the wherewithal to undertake road construction.
General Manager Corporate services, First Tricon Construction Company Limited, Nigerian Born Keyode Oluwa in his response to the issues raised against the company started by first noting that their contact with the Government of Sierra Leone was renewed two months ago by the New Direction administration of President Julius Maada Bio.
He acknowledged that they are doing quiet a good number of roads within the Bonthe Municipality which he noted will end in July this year
The Corporate Services Manager also noted that it might be too early to judge their performance in Bonthe when the project is just half way down its life span.He maintained that First Tricon is working effectively citing the fact that if there had issues government would not have renewed their contract for the second phase of their contract.
He confirmed that the company is faced with lots of challenges in area of transporting logistics from the main land to Bonthe Isand.The according to him is now a thing of the past as they have put mechanisms in place to address this.
The Corporate Services Manager dismissed the concerns raised by workers and also the issue of lack of machinery to do the work noting that they have all what it takes to mobilize the appropriate human and logistical support necessary to execute all the contracts they have been awarded so far.