The Poznań Branch of NIK will check local roads in 3 aspects: construction quality, traffic organisation and safety. ”Each driver can see in what condition the new roads are: how badly they are marked and how quickly they get damaged after repairs” - says Jan Kołtun, Director of NIK Branch in Poznań. ”We want to check step by step why it is the case.”
Statement of Jan Kołtun after the experts panel on local roads in Poland
Local roads
The audit was preceded by the experts panel. The conference organised by the Poznań Branch was attended by scholars, construction engineers, local government officials, police officers and journalists dealing with road issues. ”I’m sure that a memo from that debate will be a good supplement to our post-audit report” - claims Kołtun. And he adds that NIK wants more and more to make sure that its reports are of advisory nature. ”We don’t want just to point out mistakes but to help in problem-solving.”
In case of audits of local governments there is a certain problem, though. NIK may not evaluate their activities in terms of efficacy. At this level of administration, NIK inspectors may evaluate only legality and integrity of investments made by officials. Let’s imagine that a small commune built a large swimming pool in its area. In this case the legislator allows NIK to assess if that action was legal and if it was conducted properly. ”In practice, when we look at some decisions made by local government officials we feel like asking if they were needed at all” - says Kołtun. And he admits that NIK has plenty of doubts as to how local governments manage local roads. ”We cannot tell it to them directly but maybe they’ll use the experts’ knowledge”.
