A civil engineer, Mr Patrick Aniagyei has revealed to The Chronicle that government owes road contractors to the tune of ¢ 850 billion old Ghana cedis (about $85M) as at December 2007.

He alleged that the situation was so bad that some financial institutions that supported contractors were in a serious mess and are being chased by their creditors.

As a result a meeting was held recently to resolve the problem but it yielded no positive outcome.

He therefore urged the Association of Ghana Civil Engineers (AGCE), as a matter of urgency, to intervene to save contractors from their current plight.

Aniagyei, who is also a social worker and political administrator, urged AGCE to advise government on the kind of shoddy work being perpetrated by contractors in the road construction sector, which the government incurs a lot of money to repair.

He cited recent advice given to government by the Ghana Institute of Surveyors on the need to ensure or regulate lands around Bui Dam and Cape Three Point, where oil has been discovered so as to prevent future confrontations.

According to him, when roads are constructed in Ghana, road defects appear within a short period after construction, and he cited the Mallam-Yamoransa Highway as an example, which is undergoing repairs, just a few years after it had been constructed.

He noted that the Japanese grant which was given to Ghana for the construction of the Mallam-Yamoransa Highway could have been used to construct a quality road, as against the poor construction work done.

Meanwhile, the Special Assistant to the Minister of Roads and Transportation, Mr Ken Anku, has confirmed the allegation, saying money from the road fund was not adequate to pay the contractors.

He therefore urged the public to pay their road levies regularly to enable government maintain roads in the country.