Government gives Chinese contractor ultimatum

Nebbi- Government has given China Railway No5 Engineering Group a two-week ultimatum to complete the rehabilitation of Nebbi hospital or have their contract terminated.

The Ministry of Health project manager, Mr Francis Wakabi, while meeting with contractors, consultants and district leaders on Wednesday said the government has sent the contractor several reminders over delay in completing the project but they have paid a deaf ear.
“The speed at which the project is being implemented by the contractor is very low as was stipulated during signing of the contract on October, 29, 2013.Therefore, there are no reasons to keep them on site,” Mr Wakabi said.

He said the contractor has failed to beat the 18-month deadline within which they were expected to complete work.

“We shall give them another deadline of up to October 20 to hand over the attendant Kitchen, attendant laundry, placenta pit, medical waste pit and the staff houses, among others, to the district without fail,” Mr Wakabi noted.

Displaced
Currently, patients are being treated under trees and in case of rain, they are relocated to share wards as others find shelter on verandahs.
During the meeting, the manager of the China Railway group, said: “There have been challenges of expensive labour which forces us to hire experts from other parts of the country sometimes. There was also a rock that was hard to blast and expensive. All this slowed down the work.”

The hospital administrator, Mr Gilbert Onenchan, said management had about 20 meetings with the contractors and the consultants over the deadline of the project but they have not heeded management’s advice.

The resident district commissioner, Ms Modesta Ajilong, said if the contractors do not wind up work within the given time, the district will have no option but to recommend their termination.

Nebbi hospital is among the nine hospitals being rehabilitated under Uganda health Systems Strengthening Project.

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