Gulu District administration has ordered the Chinese firm, Chongqing International Construction Corporation (CICO), to cease operations and evacuate Kidere Hill over alleged sabotage of the district’s infrastructural development.
Last week, the district leadership confirmed that a contract with the Chinese firm to operate a quarry at the hill had been terminated after it allegedly failed to execute the terms of agreement.
Mr Christopher Opiyo Ateker, the district chairman, told Daily Monitor that a report by the district technical committee exposed a ‘planned sabotage’ by the company.
“Much as the company had blasted three-quarters of the rock beyond the half we offered them in the agreement, they had only worked on the compound of the district headquarters but had not worked on roads and refurbished facilities agreed upon,” Mr Opiyo said.
He added that the lightning arresters that were to be installed on some schools as well as digging two boreholes, among others, had not been done.
In a document seen by this newspaper, the company was supposed to quarry only 50 per cent of the hill, but a separate report indicates that three-quarters of the hill had been quarried.
When this newspaper visited Abera-Awach and Kinene-Mitam roads last week, they had not been rehabilitated.
The district also agreed with the firm to quarry rock from the hill for construction work within the district and the city but they were dismayed that the company was shipping the aggregates outside the district.
“We have tracked them and found their trucks ferrying the aggregates out of the district contrary to our agreement with them. We shall not accept that they bully us,” Mr Opiyo added.
The company also abandoned rehabilitation works on the district council hall.
In June 2018, a district technical committee chaired by Mr Auric Oryem, the deputy chief administrative officer in charge Aswa, noted in their report that rock explosions had exceeded the painted marks and that centre marks had been removed.
“Using hand-held global positioning (GPS), the team found out rock explosions exceeded the marked boundary by more than 3.3 metres. The reference point that was put as a centre mark on Kidere Rock was removed,” it stated.
In a July 2017 memorandum of understanding, the district local government agreed to allow CICO to blow up half of the hill for aggregates in road construction.
As a payment to the district for the rock, CICO was conditioned, according to the agreement, to build a borehole on the site, a pit-latrine, and work on Unyama Sub-county compound, among other works.
However, the company did not work on all the projects.
When contacted, the company admitted that there were delays.
“There was a delay, some of the work has been done while others are yet to be done. We wrote to them requesting them to allow us to continue working, and right now we are working on the compound of the church,” Mr Isaac Okello, an engineer at CICO, said.
Mr Okello said once they finish works on the church compound, they will proceed to rehabilitate the two roads.
“We wrote to the district chairman in May to allow us to continue with work at the quarry so that we finish all our tasks,” he said.
Source: The Monitor