The Ministry of Roads and Highways has initiated moves to reconstitute the Road Fund Board within two weeks to resume payments for works executed by local road contractors.
Payments for works executed by local road contractors were halted by the new administration when it took office in January as part of economic and financial measures intended to streamline payments from the road fund.
Mr Joe Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways, announced the lifting of the ban at the annual general meeting of the Association of Road contractors (ASROC) in Accra last Thursday.
He said the economic and financial measures including the suspension of payments for works executed by local road contractors were taken in good faith and explained that it was meant to allow government enough time to assess the financial status of the country and also to ensure value for money for all payments.
The minister said with that assured, steps had now been taken to re-set up the Road Fund Board following which payments would be effected immediately to reduce the hardship on contractors and their workers.
He said the resumption of payments, which is expected to start in two weeks, would improve the cash flow of contractors to enable them to continue their projects.
He said the developments in the road construction industry constituted an important component of the overall development agenda of the country.
He said it was in that regard that no government would play down the concerns of stakeholders in the industry, especially road contractors.
Mr Gidisu noted that it was, therefore, the objective of the government to implement policies that would engender the growth of the industry.
He said his ministry and its agencies recognised the immense contribution of road contractors towards the country’s socio-economic development concerning the number of jobs generated by the sector.
He said the Ministry was also aware of the serious challenges facing the industry, which included inadequate equipment holding by local contractors, delay in the payment for works executed and lack of human capacity and access to funding.
With regard to equipment holding, the minister expressed the ministry’s preparedness to lend its support to contractors to acquire the full complement of road construction equipment to meet the growing volume of contract works.
He said it was, however, pertinent to stress the need for the beneficiaries of this equipment to ensure its prompt servicing in order to make it easy for other members to also benefit from the package.
Mr J. Twumasi-Mensah, national chairman of the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC), said most of the road contractors were indebted to banks and financial institutions and suppliers because of the delays in the payments of their arrears and appealed to the minister to find a lasting solution to the problem.
He said another constraint facing the construction industry was the low capacity of technical staff working in the construction industry and appealed to the ministry to liaise with the National Youth Employment Programme to train the youth in technical skills to support the construction industry.
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