Extension work of Roundabout – Nyabugogo road- PAC reported shortfalls in roads construction, expropriation
City of Kigali authorities were on Wednesday faulted by Parliament Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on failure to implement community development projects.
A PAC assessment of the Auditor General’s (AG) report 2018/19 showed that 35,000km of planned road construction projects around the city of Kigali suburbs were not implemented as planned.
The Parliament showed that instead the city authorities illegally tempered with the tendering processes while reducing the size of roads and at times increasing the budget or reducing it and these actions were not always backed by any board’s paperwork.
MPs questioned the city authorities as to why they acted contrary to tender procedures which require that in such cases every tender offing process is repeated within the price sealing and needs.
This was also coupled with the construction of roads in some upgraded city settlements like Agatare in Nyarugenge district.
The AG audit reports that as of January 2020, Agatare settlement upgrading activities were at 35%, yet 85% of the timeline had expired and by May, 2020 the contractor had been paid Rwf1.9billion while the project supervisor (LEA Associates South Asia) had been given Rwf947.7million equivalent to 76% of the agreement.
On expropriation delays, Julian Rugaza, the City Manager and Chief Budget Manager (CBM) said the city coffers lacked budget in their cash flow.
PAC chairman, MP Valens Muhakwa questioned this reasoning and asked why the expropriation law was not respected to cover citizen’s needs.
Other MPs also wondered how this negligence would have affected citizens’ rights.
“We want a good reason to show why the citizens had to wait this long and have to keep complaining wondering where and what to eat- just imagine all these days how they survived,” Muhakwa said.
Rugaza said that the city dwellers were not evacuated from the property though their land titles remained with the city authorities of which he and the Director of the infrastructure, Boniface Iyamuremye confessed to failure to abide by the expropriation law.
Files read by KTPress indicate that 341 plots or parcels would be affected; with 74 entirely, and another 267 partially affected.
