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Doubts over pace, quality of work on Shekilango Rd
2006-06-27 09:16:58
By Lydia Shekighenda
Pessimism has gripped road users and the general public over the pace and quality of workmanship by the firm contracted to rehabilitate Shekilango Road in Dar es Salaam.
Already motorists and the residents of areas served by the road have expressed doubts on whether the contractor would be able to accomplish the work within a duration of nine months, as initially scheduled.
However, Kinondoni Municipal Engineer Benjamin Maziku assured the public that rehabilitation of Shekilango Road would take nine months.
Interviewed motorists accused the contractor of being ill prepared for such an assignment, saying the firm lacked the requisite equipment.
Most of the excavation for the huge drainage system, they claimed, was manually undertaken at a very slow pace.
They have petitioned the relevant government organs to compel the contractor to maintain high quality workmanship to beat the deadline.
’’I have observed people using spades and hoes to dig trenches. I doubt if the contractor is well equipped for the rehabilitation of the road,’’ said Getrude Phinias, a resident of Sinza Kijiweni.
Abraham Ahad, a resident of Sinza Kumekucha said hopes for the completion of rehabilitation works to remain on schedule had been dashed because since the contractor moved on site, things had got worse on the road.
’’I don’t understand why the contractor decided to start rehabilitation works from Bamaga instead of concentrating on damaged areas. These are the places where our vehicles are being destroyed,’’ he said.
’’Ahad complained that two of his vehicles were damaged on the ball joint and gear box,’’ due to the pathetic state of a section of the road.
However, Site Engineer, Sukhvie Singh said the firm used manual labour with spades to dig drainage trenches because some parts of the road had fiber cable for electricity and telecommunications and water pipes, which could be easily damaged if they used heavy duty machines.
’’It is not that we are not well equipped but circumstances have compelled us to use manual labour to avoid interfering with other infrastructural networks,’’ he insisted.
Singh said they started rehabilitating the road from Bamaga because it is the zero point where the road starts.
’’We could have decided to start from the junction of Morogoro Road but we discovered that the first thing was to control the water flow, which floods at Mori area especially when it rains,’’ he added He further noted: ’’The heavy work is at this area, which need special care for controlling the floods once it rains. When we are through with this part then the remaining work will be simple.’’
Kinondoni Municipal Engineer, Benjamin Maziku appealed to motorists and the general public to remain calm and hopes the contractor would complete the assignment on time.
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