In its latest report on the Ministry of Works and the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport, the Audit Bureau identified a number of recommendations to avoid accumulated errors in road maintenance operations and improve the level of achievement during the coming period, the most prominent of which is the need to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the concerned authorities regarding the maintenance engineering sector and its importance when adopting the maintenance plan 2021-2026 so that the sector can offer all required contracts for the maintenance of roads — main and internal — that need periodic or urgent maintenance.
According to the Al-Rai daily the following are the recommendations proposed by the concerned authorities for organized work:
— The need to update the organizational structure and terms of reference of the work of the organizational units concerned with roads, and their affiliation with the Ministry of Public Works, and supporting them with qualified technical cadres capable of applying international technical specifications and international quality standards for road paving and maintenance.
— Strengthening the inspection team on asphalt works to help increase inspection visits and implement the recommendations issued in this regard by the technical committee formed by Ministerial Resolutions 27 and 37 of 2018.
— Reviewing the distribution of human resources in the maintenance engineering sector, to benefit from their productive capacities in the organizational units that suffer from shortage in the number of employees, whether in the Ministry of Public Works or the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport.
— The need to support the maintenance engineering sector and the management of road laboratories with the necessary material capabilities, including security and safety requirements, modern devices and equipment, keeping pace with global developments in the field of paving and maintenance of roads and testing samples for the improved asphalt mixture.
— Work to implement the technical and administrative recommendations issued by the previous technical committees and the inspection team on asphalt works, by developing an approved work plan that defines the responsibilities of each regulatory unit concerned with roads in the Ministry of Works and the Authority.
— The need to prepare technical cadres in the ministry to tighten control and supervise the companies carrying out the maintenance of roads and asphalt factories, and to exclude violating companies and factories for not adhering to the approved technical specifications and poor workmanship.
— Continuing to prepare detailed statistical studies of the state of main and internal roads (good – periodic maintenance – urgent maintenance) when developing current and future maintenance engineering sector plans, so that it can accurately determine the priorities for offering contracts and the size of asphalt pavement areas.
— Work to activate the organizational structure of the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport by relocating the administrative units contained therein to exercise their competencies, and resolving the affiliation of their employees with the Ministry of Public Works.
— Reviewing the general framework plan for the improved asphalt mix so that measurement indicators are set for it through clear and specific work procedures for each organizational unit concerned with the implementation and maintenance of roads.
— Giving more importance when studying the highway cases before concluding the contract for the design – highways – maintenance of highways so that it is possible to remedy the large number of change orders that lead to delays in their implementation and high costs.
