The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, has expressed concern about poor supervision of government projects resulting in shoddy job by contractors.
He has therefore asked the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL), the agency responsible for the supervision of government projects, to sit up and make sure that there was value for money.
Addressing the staff of AESL in Kumasi, he warned of their readiness to crack the whip on engineers who failed to live up to expectation and allowed the state to be shortchanged.
The visit was part of his tour of government institutions in the region to familiarize himself with their operations and the challenges.
Mr. Osei-Mensah underlined the need to see to it that contract specifications were met and the right materials and quantities used.
“I am not enthused about what has been going on with contractors, especially the materials that they use, the doors and fittings which are of poor quality and the cost is also high, we are not getting value for money.”
“Our colonial buildings have been in existence for over 100 years but most of them are still very strong and their structural integrity intact. This cannot be said to buildings that were constructed two years ago. I do not think we can continue with this, we need to solve this problem once and for all”, he added.
The Minister indicated that he would only sign the certificate for contractors to receive payment for job done after projects had been properly inspected and found to be of the required standard.
The Regional Consultant of AESL, Mr. Joseph Kwadwo Boamah, said they had taken note of the concerns raised and gave the assurance that the engineers would be doing due diligence.
He appealed the government to increase the volume of consultancy work for the company to make it more viable to stay in competition.
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