Displaced family to get E600 000 compensation

LOBAMBA – A Masuku family stands to get about E600 000 as compensation from government.

The aforementioned amount is for a shop belonging to the family that had to be relocated for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the MR16 Lukhula-Big Bend and MR7 Lonhlupheko-Siteki Road project.

According to a report tabled by the Finance Sessional Committee, which was passed at the House of Assembly on Monday, the shop had been in the area since the 1960s.

The sessional committee asked a question on the size of the shop and the evaluator who came up with the cost.

Evaluations

“Government valuers made evaluations of all the structures to be re-allocated and produced a report to be implemented by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport,” reads part of the report tabled by the sessional committee.

The committee also asked a question on the rationale behind compensating the Eswatini Water Services Corporation (EWSC) for its own structure.

The argument behind the question was that the road was there before the structure was constructed for the said entity.

Miscommunication

The response given was that indeed the road had been there before the EWSC constructed a structure, but that there was sometimes miscommunication between the government ministries, resulting in such occurrences.

“To bridge this gap, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport has started engaging the affected government ministries and worth mentioning is that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Natural Resources has been established,” it was stated in the report.

Another question asked by the sessional committee was whether there was a change of scope in the project and the reasons behind.

It was stated that there was no change of scope, but that the additional funds emanated from things that were overlooked when conducting the survey.

Also, the sessional committee enquired why government expected to add funds when it was a public-private partnership and the expectation was that the project would be completed on time.

Furthermore, the committee enquired if there was a component that would be paid by the contractor on the additional funds and the response was that there were none.

Contractor

“All the funds will be borne by government. A contractor pays when the additional funds are as a result of their action,” the report states.

Meanwhile, it was stated in the report that it would take 12 months to complete the outstanding work and that there were two options to pay the property owners, which are either cash or the contractor would construct the building.