Engineers & Planners Not Awarded Ashaiman Road Contract

Media report that brother of President John Dramani Mahama, has been awarded roads in the Ashaiman Municipality to construct, has turned out to be completely false. Engineers and Planners (E&P), the mine-equipment leasing company, owned by Ibrahim Mahama, junior brother of the President, is only present having given out its equipment to a Kumasi-based construction company called, Kofi Job Company Limited, owned by one Kofi Job Gyebi on a rental arrangement. The report which went viral, after it was published in the Daily Guide, has turned out to be untrue. The Herald also gathered that the road which is popularly called the Adjei Kojo Road, and stretches from the main Ashaiman traffic light and about six kilometers long, was given to four different contractors, including Legna Construction Firm, but unfortunately all four abandoned the project and left the road in a mess. The Contractor, Mr. Job Gyebi, who revealed this information while briefing some journalists at the construction site yesterday at Ashaiman, made it clear that the contract has been truly awarded to his company, but he hired the services of E&P. He explained that, because he could not bring along all his equipment to the site considering the distance and the state of the road - waterlogged and deplorable � he was pushed by circumstance to hire heavy duty equipments from the E&P to make the execution of the project easy and faster. �The project is quite huge, every single project is different and you need different equipment and tools, therefore, you need to obtain specialist equipments to execute it efficiently and on time�. Mr. Job Gyebi, emphasized that it was completely inaccurate to create the impression that Ibrahim Mahama�s company was awarded the government contract to execute. Both Mr. Job Gyebi and his assistance, David Beniako, in separate interviews, described the project as an �emergency� contract, which needed to be completed early for the people of the Ashaiman. The Herald also learnt that Mr. Job Gyebi�s company, has promised to use 12 months to execute the project, instead of 24 months, which it is supposed to have taken to finish. For this reason, the company has been running a �24-hour shift�, in order to meet their 12-month deadline. He mentioned that the project, as evident on the ground is 50 percent complete. He cited his biggest challenge as the heavy vehicular traffic on the road. The Herald observed excavators, tipper trucks, heavy Volvo construction vehicles, as well as men busily working, filling and grading and leveling up the road. Mr. Gyebi, told journalists that Kofi Job Company Limited is an A1 indigenous construction firm, with a lot of experience in asphalt and first class roads throughout the country. He mentioned Bereman UGC road, Techiman, Tuaboddon and other notable roads constructed by his company, adding that �we can�t speak for ourselves�. The project, he noted has been entirely funded by his company, but commended the government for having confident in the local contractors to go out there to execute projects, instead of awarding the contract to foreign contractors as used to be the case. Meanwhile, motorists as well as residents who spoke with The Herald said, they are extremely excited at the rate and level of work carried out by the current contractor so far. It is, however, their expectation that the road would be finished as early as possible to lessen the dust that is posing respiratory and health challenges.