Govt Freezing Of Road Contracts In The Right Direction

President of the Association of Road Contractors in Ghana, Mr. Ebow Hewton has endorsed government�s decision to put on hold awarding of new road contracts to contractors.

He said it was of no relevance for government to have kept on awarding contracts when existing ones have not yet been paid for.

The Ministry of Roads and Highways have decided to freeze new road contracts to free the few resources available to the sector to complete ongoing projects in the country.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani said: �there are too many uncontrolled award of contracts and we are currently heavily indebted. We think if we stop the award of new contracts, we will have some funds to complete some of the projects on time�.

Interacting with Kwami Sefa-Kayi in an interview Tuesday, Mr. Hewton decried of the inability of government to pay them their monies, adding, some of the contractors end up falling sick because of the prevailing circumstance.

According to him, most of the contractors borrow money from banks with the hope that government will be faithful in paying but that doesn�t happen.

Mr Hewton said government owes them an amount of GH�400 million; and so if it has decided to freeze the contract, it is in the right direction.

�We�ve been advocating for this to happen for a very long time. It was necessary for government to stop awarding contracts and focus on paying those contracts he had already awarded. It made no sense to award more contracts when he has not yet paid existing ones...it is in the right direction�I have also urged my members to exercise restraint for government to be able to pay everything owed�, he indicated.

Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com