By Fasalie S. Kamara
The chief executive officer of the Road Maintenance Fund (RMF) has blamed the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) for the many potholes in the city. Speaking at the government weekly press briefing last week, Abdul Kalokoh said that “it is the responsibility of SLRA to draw up programmes and not my department.”
Kalokoh said that based on the programmes drawn up "we will make the fund available" for the implementation of project. He also said that government had made it a policy for the RMF to allocate 20 % of funds generated to the local councils for the maintenance of feeder roads in the rural areas.
Kalokoh said that there were two ways in which the Road Maintenance Fund generates income which he said were through charges levied from the sale of fuel and from vehicle licenses and registration.
He said however that most of that money was in arrears, which he cited as reason for asking SLRA to prioritise its activities based on the availability of funds. He pointed that Le 9 billion was allocated to his department for local councils of which over Le 1 billion had been paid to them, which he said comprised about 15% of the total fund.
The Director General of SLRA, Munda Rogers acknowledged that there was a lot of potholes in the city, noting that “it is natural for the roads to get potholes because they are getting old.”
He said that SLRA would start working on the roads after the rains.
(C) Politico 24/09/13
