Bolgatanga, June 3, GNA - Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, on Tuesday assured contractors in the Upper East Region that the process of awarding contract would be open and transparent. "You will be given a level playing field to tender and since we want the best value for our investment, we shall ensure that the processes employed would automatically bring out the best contractor for the job," he said.

Mr. Woyongo gave the assurance at a special general meeting of the Regional Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) in Bolgatanga. He warned them against shoddy work and unnecessary delays saying, "I wish to sound a note of caution to all non-performing contractors in the Region that we are not going to tolerate the execution of shoddy contracts or delay in execution of projects.

"We will strictly enforce the rules and provisions contained in the procurement Act of 2003, Act 663 to ensure value for money" He urged them to develop their capacities so that they could compete with other contractors both at the local and international levels.

Mr. Woyongo also advised the contractors to form cooperatives to acquire equipment and take contracts together, so that they would be able to work fast and open more chances for contracts. Mr. Dawuda Hakim, Chairman , ASROC called on government to consider the local contractors in the awards of government projects, except for those exceeding 50 million Ghana cedis, which he noted could be partnered with foreign contractors.

He suggested that contract awarding agencies deal with only contractors registered with any one of the associations, so that the associations could sanction those who fail to perform efficiently. He appealed to the Minister to ensure that local contracts were spread to cover all hardworking contractors in the Region and not awarded to only a few.

Mr. Hakim noted that fixed contract methods could only succeed in an economy where prices did not change often and asked that since payments to contractors were still erratic they should be paid regularly at least once in a year.

Mr. Francis Hammond, Regional Director of Highways advised the contractors to satisfy all the requirements when they tender because any necessary document that was not offered could disqualify them.

He asked them to take their work seriously and do all that was required of them so that the finished work would be good and durable. He expressed concern that people were causing damage to the roads by using car jacks, digging speed rumps, spilling petrol or diesel on roads and allowing tractor harrows to plough the road.