The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has announced that government will begin disbursing GH¢4 billion to contractors by the end of July as part of efforts to clear the GH¢21 billion debt inherited by the Mahama administration.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, July 8, the Minister disclosed that the funds will be used to settle arrears owed to contractors for completed projects, adding that the audit commissioned by the new administration into all existing contracts has now been concluded.
Mr. Agbodza said, “On the bigger issue of how do we address the payment to contractors since we have already admitted. If you listen to His Excellency, the President of the Republic, yesterday he indicated that towards the end of this month, the finance minister would be taking steps to retire some of the debt old contractors so that they can go back to site and complete the work. On record, we are intending to pay some four billion Ghana Cedi towards retiring part of the 21 billion from this month.”
He added, “I have no doubt that will be on record to be one of the biggest payments at a particular time to make sure that we are serious about clearing the debt and then also paying for making provision to start the new works we are talking about. So we did not actually neglect paying contractors. As I said, when we came in, one of the things we needed to do is to actually vet some of those payment.”
The announcement comes just a day after President John Dramani Mahama assured members of the Council of State that road contractors who had abandoned project sites due to non-payment will soon receive their due.
Speaking at the Presidency on Monday, July 7, the President confirmed that the Ministry of Finance has made dedicated budgetary allocations to begin clearing the outstanding debts, adding that this move is crucial to resuming stalled infrastructure projects nationwide.
President Mahama emphasised that returning contractors to project sites was key to fast-tracking infrastructure development and boosting the government’s broader economic recovery agenda.
Further details on the structure of payments and the scope of covered projects will be included in the upcoming mid-year budget review, which will also provide a comprehensive update on the economy’s performance in the first half of the year.
The President assured the Council that following the mid-year review, further engagements will be held to brief them on progress made.
Meanwhile, Mr. Agbodza has directed contractors working on the Ofankor-Nsawam road to adopt urgent measures to reduce the daily inconvenience faced by commuters and nearby residents.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
