Mahamadou Bonkoungou, President of the EBOMAF Group on the construction site of the RN 14, Koudougou-Dédougou: "Unless of force majeure, the deadline of March 2013 will be held"

At the end of the inspection carried out by the Prime Minister, Béyon Luc Adolphe Tiao himself, on the road under construction, Koudougou-Dédougou, the President of the EBOMAF Group, Mahamadou Bonkoungou, does not hide his optimism to deliver to Burkina Faso one of its most beautiful road infrastructures within the agreed deadlines. In four (4) questions, the boss of the Burkinabè BTP giant declines his ambitions and expectations around this road project.

• What is your assessment of the general character of the development and construction site of the national road 14, Koudougou-Dédougou, one year after the start of the work?

• Mahamadou Bonkoungou, CEO of EBOMF Group:Today, Friday, 20 January 2012, the level of work execution is between 40% and 46%. These times consumed have a slight delay of the order of very little 6% on the timing we acknowledge in all sincerity and intend to catch up with it in the next few days to further increase the rate of realization. EBOMAF did not skew human, material and technical performance to achieve this.

The wonderful evolution of large works is there to attest. The authorities led today on the site by the Prime Minister have recognized that there is a very satisfactory downside on the whole section with harmony and symbiosis in the execution of the works. These encouragements give us a fresh breath to redouble our commitment to this road project.

• What could underlie this minimal delay while everything seems to go like on wheel caps?

• Our main concern is the lifting of the misunderstanding of the company's desired scenario to give a real boost to the work. The monitoring mission does not seem to fully adhere to our new form of organisation of the site. EBOMAF has to go fast and well. It made several suggestions in this regard. But the speed it intends to print is hampered by the inadequacy of the current staff of the surveillance office. This does not support the desired spirit. Our grievances have been brought before the highest authorities and we hope that they will find a diligent solution to boost the process of de-enclaving the Mouhoun Loop which the entire nation expects with great hope.

• What do you recommend to overcome this handicap to the real progress of the construction site?

• We simply wanted the control office to review its staff upwards. It is true that its staff was recruited in accordance with the recommendation of the tender documents. However, its field presence does not cover all the activities in the field as we understand it. While the work of the monitoring mission is effective, coverage is far from complete satisfaction.

The controllers are unable to intervene on several fronts of the site because of their number considered to be far below the scale of the work. This explains the real reason for the slight delay at the moment. Since the monitoring mission must attest certain activities for them to be actually undertaken. We are fully aware of the maintenance of the perfect tandem with this important link of the project to ensure a normal evolution of the work. In order to do so, we argued orally that the monitoring mission should be given prompt authorization to recruit additional officers. Thus, it will have a great look at all our activities along the axis. We don't run away from his action. The more the works are controlled, the more they progress properly.

Because we have been part of a dynamic of evolving quantitatively and qualitatively with the assurance that the audit office supports the standards and standards adopted. In our ambition to go fast, whenever a step is taken on the site, we expect to benefit from the exit from having complied with the terms of the specifications. The Prime Minister is following with great interest the evolution of this ambitious project by conducting regular and frequent raids for inspections. It goes without saying that EBOMAF surrounds all the guarantees of trust by ensuring both the guarantee on the quality of the work and the observance of contractual deadlines.

• The RN 14, Koudougou-Dédougou project, does it not also hide any amendments as is common in road projects in Burkina Faso?

• The amendments are not a unilateral and disproportionate responsibility of the undertaking in charge of the work. These are realities that are required as work progresses. They must then be taken into account in order to be fully successful in conducting the project. Contrary to what a certain opinion is growing, amendments obey rules. With regard to the RN 14 project, the necessary means are constantly being deployed to meet all types of work planned and to comply with the agreed deadline for the development and construction of this track. Possible amendments may result from crossing areas or other aspects related to the execution of the work. But for now, this is not the case on this site. Except in cases of force majeure, the deadline will be respected. The work will be delivered with all the guarantee of the required quality in March 2013, butterfly date closing the thirty (30) months of work required and allocated.

HS comments on the RN site 14