Sogea – Satom Queried for Abandoning Railway Works.
MPs Ask Why Company Was Paid 16M Euros With No Work Done.
The Parliamentary committee of Government Assurances has grilled officials of Sogea-Satom on how they abandoned the project to rehabilitate Tororo-Gulu Meter Guage Railway with no work done despite receiving 16M Euros payment from the government.
In 2018 government contracted the consortium of Sogea-Satom and ETF (Eurovia) to rehabilitate the old meter gauge railway (MGR) northern line from Tororo to Gulu. However, the contractor terminated works recently, citing inconsistencies in payments. Today, the committee of government Assurances chaired by the Kalungu West MP Joseph Sewungu grilled Sogea Satom management on why they abandoned the project with no work done despite receiving payments amounting to 16M Euros from the government.
Sogea Satom officials failed to adduce evidence of a certificate of completion on which the government based to pay them over 16M Euros.
The 39.33m Euros Project to Rehabilitate the Meter Gauge Railway from Tororo to Gulu funded by European Union and the Government of Uganda was meant to start on Feb 4, 2020, and end on Feb 9, 2023, under the supervision of Uganda Railway corporation. However, the Committee visited the project recently and found that there is barely any work done on the railway route whose work was initially expected to take 36 months.
Paul Viellard the Sogea Satom Project Manager labored to explain that they carried out bush clearing on the site but he was ruled out by committee members questioning how site clearance took place in absence of a design.
The meeting was cut short after the Sogea Satom official ran short of answers to legislators’ questions and the meeting was rescheduled for next week when the committee expects to meet other government agencies that were in charge of the contract.
The committee accused the contractor of Non-performance fearing that there must have been connivance with the supervisor in payment of 16M Euros against no certificate of completion.
The meeting was cut short after the Sogea Satom official ran short of answers to legislators’ questions and the meeting was rescheduled for next week when the committee expects to meet other government agencies that were in charge of the contract.
