June 29, 2021
By Dadson A. Musa
The Ministry of Works has ensured the allocation of contract for the renovation of the presidential lodge to a local construction company. This move by government is commendable as in the past foreign companies had always had the edge over our local ones.
This move is especially inspiring to many local companies. Better still; the construction company is based in the provinces which is kudos to this government.
A building as important as the presidential lodge given to a local construction company is a pointer that this government is serious about local content policy and we hope they continue in that direction. The presidential lodge in Bo at Reservation in the southern province of Sierra Leone is currently under massive renovation work. The building had laid waste for decades and was almost becoming derelict.
So, government had to spend billions on hotel and guest house bills just to keep our president comfortably housed each time he was in the southern provincial headquarter town of Bo. This is an attempt to save government billions of Leones in future.
KAM Enterprises, the winner of the bid in an open tender for the renovation of the lodge is a truly Sierra Leonean company. Its headquarters are along Mahei Boima, close to former Rex Cinema.
The proprietor and Executive Director is Mr. Alusine Kamara.
KAM Enterprises had to beat eight other companies as their bid was far more attractive than the others. The awarding of this contract to a local construction company is good for the country’s internal security.
It is the first time a local construction company has won an important bid of this nature competing with others from Freetown. The building is spacious enough with provision for car park and quarters for security with barbed wire perimeter fencing.
Due to its security-sensitiveness we are not going into details about the entire work.
But proprietor, Alusine Kamara has assured that ‘…modern renovation work is going to be done with state-of-the-art fittings’.
KAM Enterprises has been in construction work for over 12 years now and they also do supplies. ‘Sometimes we have to sacrifice a lot to please and retain our customers’, Mr. Kamara said.
This particular renovation work is ‘insured’ and it was a ‘close content’ negotiation as prices of building materials are not stable especially with covid-19 not gone yet.
To start this all-important renovation work he had to bring on board the Office of National Security, police and soldiers as the safety of the president is paramount.
This company according to Mr. Alusine Kamara has undertaken work for World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union, Islamic Development Bank, UN, etc. Its track has remained unblemished. To show that he is credible he started off by pre-financing before receiving 30% of the agreed amount for the entire job.
But there are always economic costs on the contractor when delays are made in prompt payment of funds. Government is notorious for bureaucratic delays in remitting funds to service providers.
A work of this nature with very high security-sensitiveness must be treated differently as it will save this country billions in the future and also ensure the safety of the first family of our land. Work of this nature must not be delayed or stalled as government must make it a priority to save a public property from decaying.
Sometimes contractors or suppliers go the extra mile of taking bank loans to make sure service is timely provided to government with high interest rates, so government in turn must make quickly on its provision of funds to these suppliers or contractors. This is so that sub-standard work is avoided.
Sometimes in this country it takes years for contractors or suppliers to be paid and the sustenance of their business is seriously affected.
I am sure they do not intend to kill local industries therefore timely disbursement of funds is advised especially when it comes to the presidential lodge.