Government will soon blacklist non-resourceful contractors, says Amoako-Atta
Kwesi Amoako-Atta, the Minister of Roads and Highways, has stated that the government will soon blacklist all non-resourceful contractors to sanitise the construction sector.
“In Ghana, the challenge is that everybody wants to be a contractor but most of them are not resourceful and government is taking steps to stop that from next week,” he said.
Amoako-Atta stated this whilst addressing the media in Wa after visiting the Upper West Region to inspect work on the roads that were washed off by floods following torrential rains that occurred on 12 August 2021.
He said per the law, contractors were supposed to be paid only when they have finished executing the contract apart from mobilisation, but because of the non-resourceful situation of some of these contractors, they were not able to execute these contracts before payment.
And this according to the minister, was affecting the plans of the government to the people of the country.
He added that the government would, therefore, not allow this to continue.
Outstanding claims
Amoako-Atta noted that it was true that the government had some outstanding claims to pay to contractors and they were making frantic efforts to do so, pointing out that this was the more reason why contractors needed to be resourceful enough to be able to execute road projects whilst allowing the government a little space to pay.
He said no government could boast of not having outstanding payments, noting that since President Akufo-Addo took over office in 2017, outstanding payments were dating back to 2011, stressing that despite this, the government was able to pay almost GHC12 billion to contractors during the first term.
Amoako-Atta disclosed that a total of 106 road projects were currently being executed in the Upper West Region across the three road agencies including the 50kms Han-Tumu Road, which arguably was the most deplorable major road in the region.
He said everything was being done to ensure that the roads were completed by end of 2022, adding that they were monitoring every contractor and any of them that was proving incapable of delivering would have his/her contract terminated without any hesitation.
He said the government would, however, stand by contractors who exhibited capability by supporting them where necessary to enable them to execute their contracts within schedule and to the benefit of the people of the country.
Amoako-Atta noted that 2021 was another year of roads following the success of 2020, which was declared the year of roads by President Nana Akufo-Addo, thereby, urging contractors to support the government by delivering quality and timely road contracts to the people of the country.
The Roads and Highways Minister expressed the government’s gratitude to the four contractors who worked diligently to reconnect the washed-off roads in the Upper West Region, which restored normal socio-economic activities in the region.
He assured that all areas of roads that could be potentially washed-off would be re-engineered at the appropriate time to prevent any damage when floods hit again anytime in the future.
Amoako-Atta was accompanied by his Deputy, Mavis Nkansah Boadu, the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Deputy Minister for Sanitation, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, and other directors of the Ministry.
