Auditors have found several weaknesses in project site organization by contractors. There were no site organization Plan in place for all 18 projects reviewed and which have been visited. Contractors’ Environmental Management Plans were not in place in all 18 of Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) projects that were visited. The auditors only found one project which had an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report namely Taiama-Njala road project. However, the EIA was not reviewed or approved by EPA and SLRA management as required by EPA Act. “There were weaknesses in availability of instruction books on site, for instance in all 18 visited road projects there were no site instruction books.” It was also noted that there were no design drawings at site, the audit noted that SLRA, Contractors and Consultants were not in possession of on-site drawings/designs whilst works were not completed and were in progress in 7 out of 18 road projects sites visited. For other three road projects namely Weima Bridge, Bandajuma-Pujehun, Taiama-Njala, and Kailahun Township contractors were not on site. Similarly, there was no project/correspondence file both at SLRA and at the contractors’ offices and sites. There were no approvals of the consultants before commencement of road works. There were no attendance registers or visitors’ log books at site for 7 out of 18 during the site visit for verification. The audit reviewed one of the registers for Freetown Phase III west and found-out that it was only signed between March 2018 to May 2018 only, while the project started in 2012. For 18 road projects which were audited, it was noted that it was only 2 road projects where the contractor was on site namely, Freetown Streets Phase II West Zone lot 3, Blama-Hanga, however it was noted that works were being undertaken without workers wearing protective gears as indicated below.  The audit noted that, contractors were paid for safety gears for staff in their BoQs. But the site visits to some of the projects which contractors were on-site noted that contractor’s workers did not have safety gears whilst they were executing the works on site.

By Zainab Iyamide Joaque

Monday May 20, 2019.