Over five billion Ghana cedis paid to road contractors since 2017- Minister: Ghanatoday.net

By
Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA

Accra, Jan. 29, GNA
– Government has so far paid over five billion Ghana cedis as outstanding
arrears to road contractors since 2017, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta, the Minister of
Roads and Highways, announced this in Accra, on Wednesday.

Government made the
payment through the Consolidated Fund and the Road Fund to contractors with
Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) at the cut-off date of August 2019.

Government paid 100
per cent of contractors it owed up to GH¢ 5m made up of 168 contractors while
210 contractors it owed above five million Ghana cedis received 40 per cent of
the amount owed.

In addition,
government paid GH¢ 482 million to contractors it owed GH¢500,000.00 totaling
4,212 single-man contractors, who mostly desilted drains and cut off vegetation
along the roads.

Also, contractors
that government owed GH¢10,000.00 and above comprising 43 contractors had been
paid GH¢584 million being 100 per cent payment, while those government owed
GH¢500,000.00 and below GH¢10 million had received GH¢138.1 million.

Mr Amoako-Atta, who
made this known at the road sector retreat in Accra, said government sees
infrastructure development as the pivot around which the socio-economic
development of the country revolved.

Currently,
government needs about GH¢30.5 billion to pay the cost of uncompleted roads and
other commitment made under the Road Infrastructure Development programme.

Meanwhile,
government has also selected three critical roads in each of the 16 regions for
construction this year.

The Roads Minister
said government was paying greater attention to road infrastructure development
and, therefore, declared “2020 as the Year of Roads” since 98 per cent of
transportation of commuters and goods were carried on road network.

The retreat brought
together key stakeholders in the road sector including the Ghana Chamber of
Construction, Association of Road Contractors, Directors at the sector Ministry
and all the 16 Regional Ministers.

They would
brainstorm on the current conditions of road infrastructure in the country and
come out with a blueprint on strategies and realistic plans to achieve the
government’s road infrastructure objectives.

Of the 78,000 kilometres
of the country’s total road network, only 23 per cent had been paved with 39
per cent considered good, 32 per cent fair and 29 per cent poor.

Vice President Dr
Mahamudu Bawumia, the Special Guest at the event, in a keynote address,
announced that the road from the Blackstar Square to Nungua, otherwise known as
the beach road, would commence in the next four weeks.

He noted that road
infrastructure development was one of the major concerns for Ghanaians as
revealed in the Afrobarometre survey and assured government’s unflinching
commitment to meeting the needs and aspirations of the citizenry.

It was on that
score, he said, government of Ghana signed a Bauxite Master Agreement Plan with
the Sino Hydro Group of China towards the development of the country’s
infrastructure.

He said the
two-billion-dollar expected from the bauxite barter arrangement would be paid
with funds from refined bauxite and not necessarily allowing the Chinese to
mine bauxite directly from the forest.

Vice President
Bawumia entreated engineers and supervisors to ensure effective monitoring of
all the road contractors undertaking various road projects across the country,
in order to deliver quality roads and ensure value for money.

GNA