Kakata streets rehabilitation on slow pace

On-going rehabilitation of various streets in Kakata, Margibi County with an estimated cost of over a million United States is yet to be completed. The project was awarded to a local firm, Modern Development Management Cooperation or MDMC during 2012/2013 by the Margibi authorities at US$1,151,436.48.

It was meant to rehabilitate all major streets and alleys in Kakata, but to date, the project is ninety percent complete, according to the Acting Chair of the Margibi Project Management Committee or PMC, Mr. Justin Barmen.

Groundbreaking of the project was characterized by serious disagreement among county officials with Margibi District Four Representative Ben A. Fofana boycotting the ceremony. Representative Fofana said the county administration under the leadership of Superintendent John Z. Buway, who was selected to spearhead the project, disregarded him and there were some missteps in the implementation of the project.

Fofana by then threatened to sue Supt. Buway for alleged missteps in the project implementation.  The beginning of the project saw demolition of private properties said to be in alleys of the city by county authorities.

At a certain point, the project was also completely stalled, raising serious concern in the county, which forced the MDMC to say it had halted the project because the county authorities were not making payment as per the agreement.

Supt. Buway confirmed the county had not made any payment yet because funding was not coming from central government due to competing national priorities. He also attributed delay in the project to the rainy season.

By Ramsey N. Singbeh, Jr. in Margibi-Editing by Jonathan Browne