Roko does not dispute the debt Employees of Roko Construction Company at a site. Civil engineers in Uganda have asked the Government to intervene and stop the liquidation of Roko Construction Ltd over a sh2b debt, saying this would adversely affect the entire construction sector.
Roko owes Roofings Ltd sh2b after the latter supplied the former with steel materials that it used at various construction sites, but failed to pay for owing to financial challenges.
The engineers, under the Uganda National Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (UNABEC), in their letter to finance minister Matia Kasaija, requested the Government to bail out Roko because this would save many other contractors and jobs.
"Being the leading construction company in Uganda, hundreds of small and medium-sized contractors and suppliers will go down with Roko. Its closure would also mean that 3,400 Ugandans will lose jobs," they wrote on December 16.
The UNABEC national president, Francis Aryatuzoora Karuhanga and executive director Elizabeth Muhebwa signed the letter that was copied to the Office of the Prime Minister, works and transport ministry as well as the Private Sector Foundation.
The association said Roko currently holds a portfolio of sh740b in value of works for the Government and private sector. It appealed to the Government to give the construction firm at least sh120b to avert its collapse.
The engineers cited the extension of the Parliamentary Building and the new finance ministry building as some of the works Roko is currently undertaking.
Documents seen by New Vision show that Roko has at least 18 ongoing projects with both public and private entities that owe the construction firm $205.7m.
"As a constituent of the engineering sector therefore, we believe that the failure of Roko will unravel unprecedented reckoning against the (construction) sector’s advancement in Uganda," the engineers said.
The engineers’ appeal, however, comes at a time when the Government has committed to pay Roko an outstanding debt of sh46.9b that the State owes it for the different contracts it has executed over time.
This was after Roko wrote to the Government seeking to have their money paid so as to solve the cash flow challenges that have affected its operations. Just like many other companies, Roko’s businesses were affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.In a letter to the Roko managing director dated November 20 this year, Kasaija expressed the Government’s commitment in writing to pay Roko within four months."I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence in which […]