Accra, Jan. 18, GNA - The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has resolved to pay all outstanding debts to local contractors as soon as possible to clear all liabilities as a means of improving the quality of performance of the construction industry.

Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Sector Minister said difficulty in accessing financial resources to enable the contractors to perform their work diligently had become a major challenge facing the industry. He said the decision to clear all debts owed to the contractors formed part of programmes to build a positive image of the construction industry and eliminate the negative perception that both Ghanaians and foreigners had about Ghanaian contractors and consultants. The Minister was launching the performance rating and ranking scheme for local contractors on Friday which would help to assess the performance of the contractors on each project and ensure that only qualified and competent contractors were awarded contracts to ensure durability.

The scheme would also award deserving contractors to motivate them to deliver high quality of work.

Mr. Baah-Wiredu said the Ministry's budget for contractors last year was one trillion old Ghana cedis out of which the Ministry had paid about 193 billion old Ghana cedis which was still not adequate. Apart from this, the Ministry had been concerned about the quality of performance of the contractors and the negative perception as a result of poor delivery, inability to meet deadlines, shoddy work and lack of innovation forcing the government to award most contracts to foreign contractors.

He said the industry currently lacked personnel to provide its numerous needs, adding that the problem had been worsened by the fact that there was virtually no institution in Ghana to train contractors. He said though there was a lot of hard work ahead, all the stakeholders in the industry must contribute to ensure that it was transformed into a more efficient industry with regard to quality and general performance.

Mr. Kwesi Abbey Sam, Chairman of the Taskforce that came up with the scheme called on the Ghana Standards Board to collect and collate specifications to enhance the assigning of contracts and ensure that quality was maintained.

He said the lack of local standards and specifications and the use of obsolete specifications in assigning contracts, added to the lack of research to develop and update existing specifications and standards in the country had contributed to the industry's poor performance. Mr. Abbey Sam noted that the contractors must ensure that their project proposals were strictly in tune with the budget to ensure sustainability of the funds allocated to them.

Dr. Ebo Bannerman, President of the Ghana Association of Consultants who chaired the launching said personnel were not well trained to deliver quality services and expressed the hope that the scheme would help improve the operations in the sector. 18 Jan. 08