Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako Atta, has terminated a road contract of Messrs Nkwantabisa Contractors for delaying in completing the project on time at the Akyem Wenchi Junction and the Kade stretch in the Eastern Region.
The 46-kilometre road is yet to be completed after it was awarded to the private company nearly 10 years ago.
Mr Amoako Atta, who was on a three-day visit to the Eastern Region to inspect progress of work on major road projects, expressed shock about the slow pace of work, adding that his outfit will end the contract of any company which delays work without any justification.
The Minister was quoted by CNR as saying: “This contract is terminated and when I go back to the office on Monday morning I will give approval to the termination and Chief Director will work with the Chief Executive of the Ghana Highway Authority to re-award this contract because this road must be fixed immediately.”
“There must be a strong contractor on this road to work on it between now and the end of the year. We cannot accept this. No contractor can be on the road for 10 years which is a decade. It is not acceptable and as I go round the country, any project of any contractor that is unjustifiably delayed and delayed for no just cause shall be terminated,” he fumed.
The Minister served notice that companies who have been awarded government contract could face similar sanctions for delaying such projects.
“I will terminate your contract,” the Minister said as he commended another contractor, General Construction and Development Limited.
“Because the people of this country cannot wait, government cannot wait because we are in a hurry, anybody or contractor who comes for a project and does not perform you are gone,” he added.
Last year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo tagged the year 2020 as the “Year of Roads.”
According to him, his government would embark on an aggressive road development across Ghana next year, saying “Next year is the year we will adopt as the year of roads.”
But it appears the agenda could suffer some set backs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako Atta at a program in Koforidua in the Eastern region said some road projects that draw its funding from the Sinohydro deal will be affected.
This is due to delay in releasing funds from the $2.5 billion deal for some road projects in the country.
According to the Minister, officials from China could not travel to Ghana to perform their roles in relation to the deal.
Mr Amoako Atta at that meeting noted that “It’s understandable, the officials should have come from China to join us to perform these exercises in relation to the sinohydro [but] because of the manifestation of that deadly disease, that certainly has affected a lot of things.”
Source: Daily Mail GH
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