MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – The government of Germany is terminating technical and financial support for the construction of Puntland’s Garowe-Galkayo highway over lack of transparency.
The suspension reflects the state’s repeated inability to account for funds earmarked for the project.
The first phase of the project was launched in 2016 and was targeting to maintain upgrade 80km along Jalam-Haro road.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German government-owned development agency, provided technical and financial support for the rehabilitation of the JALAM – HARFO section of the GAROWE – GALKAYO corridor to Puntland Highway Authority (PHA).
The implementation of the rehabilitation activities was planned for the timeframe April 2017 until May 2018.
In a statement, the government of German said the decision was arrived at following alleged compromise on quality in implementation and accountability and transparency in using donor funds.
The statement noted that the contributors of the project subsequently realized that the cooperation between the implementing partners in Puntland was gradually deteriorating
“This process led to fundamental principles of transparency and accountability being no longer sufficiently in place during the actual construction works,” the statement reads, “Repeated attempts by the German Embassy and GIZ to restore an enabling environment for external support did not result in the required changes. Consequently, the cooperation between GIZ and PHA had to be terminated.”
The government of Germany has dispelled remarks claiming the project was suspend over lack of funds to implement it.
“We reject all claims that earmarked funds have not been made available or have not been released according to the existing contractual framework,” the statement affirms, “All payments were subject to performance during the works and have been released accordingly. Unfortunately, within the contract duration, only 14% of the contracted works have been delivered according to the agreed quality standards.”
The statement called on all stakeholders to refrain from accusations that could potentially harm the cooperation between Puntland and external partners in general.
The German Embassy stressed that the decision will not have an impact on any other programs implemented by the German Development Cooperation in Puntland.
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