Oyam District Council has petitioned the Inspector General of Government to intervene in what they called highly inflated tenders for road rehabilitation in the district.
The district is in the process of rehabilitating 68 kilometers of community roads at the cost 4.5 billion shillings.
But councilors on Works and Technical Committee say cost for the rehabilitation of 11 Community roads is too high.
The project is being implemented by Northern Uganda Development of Enhanced Local Governance, Infrastructure and Livelihood (NUDEIL) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In their letter dated 1st August 2011 to the IGG’s office, the councilors cited high influence peddling by the district leaders in the awarding of contracts to companies of their choices. They are also calling on the Anti corruption bodies to get involved in the matter.
The petition follows the committee meeting held on 29th July 2011 at the district council hall, in which they resolved to report the matter to IGG’s office for further action.
Rolex Akena Ogwal, the committee chairperson said they want the implementing body (NUDEIL) to explain how they came up with inflated costs.
Ocen Patrick, a committee member said they want the whole contract to be redesigned with fresh costs and re-advertised to save the district from the impending financial losses.
Ocen wondered how just a 9km community road without bridge installation can cost over 637 million shillings. He described it as open stealing of public resources by the responsible officers.
NUDEIL focal person who doubles as the District engineer, Juluis Olupot said the rates were high because the roads would be constructed using American standard rates, a claim which the committee has trashed saying it’s an attempt to mismanage the resources.
Olupot also argued that the costing and designing of roads were carried by the NUDEIL engaged consultancy firm, adding that the district was just tasked to do procurement.
But the district chief administrative officer, Richard Okoli maintains that they followed all procurement procedures basing on the public procurement and disposal of public assts act.
Last week, the council works committee ordered the CAO not to sign any agreement with the contractors until the issue is properly handled to avoid putting district in a mess.
