The Minister of Road and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has issued a stern warning to name and shame road contractors engaged in shoddy work.
Speaking on Woezor TV on Friday, April 4, Mr. Agbodza stated that his ministry has been engaging with the road contractors, urging them to enhance the quality of their work, with the warning that if they fail to do so, their names will be publicly disclosed.
“I must say, I have visited sites that we are paying consultants to work on. And the consultants are not up to the task in some cases. And that is very frustrating. So, yes, we have spoken to some contractors quietly and asked them to improve their work without mentioning their names. And we are watching.
Read also: Africa Must Look Internally to Re-orient Trading Patterns – AfCFTA Coordinator
He said that the government is prepared to take drastic measures, including pursuing legal action when necessary, against contractors who fail to meet the required standards.
“And second, some of the situations may require that we take legal action against some people because they’ve become notorious for not heeding to advice as to what we all expect them to do.”
Mr. Agbodza emphasized that there are efforts to improve the local contractors to construct quality roads for the country, noting that the naming and shaming is not to discourage them but rather to signal them to up their game.
“The only reason we bring in foreign contractors many times is because of this idea that somebody is bringing us money that we do not have. But if you look at the real contractors on site, I will not mince words. Maybe 80% or 90% of even what we call foreign contractors are just businesses. They are here because of their local content. But the guys doing the steel bending, the engineers supervising everything, most of the time are Ghanaians.
“So if we can have our own resources, all we need to do is to encourage the Ghanaian contractor and Ghanaian engineer to do a better job and to give all of us value.”
View this post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1642xesQVH/
He said as part of efforts to enhance local contractors’ capacity, the government is ensuring the fast-track payment of the $21 billion debt owed to them.