Road contractors in the country have urged Roads and Highways Minister Kwasi Amoako-Attah to resort to the same passion with which he condemns bad roads in paying contractors for jobs done.

According to the contractors, getting paid for jobs done has become a difficult banter between them and the government leading to the death of some contractors.

It comes on the back of claims of the minister that government will be going hard on contractors in the coming weeks over shoddy jobs. He said the roads ministry is moving the defect liability period from 12 months to five years.

Reacting to the comment, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Emmanuel Cherry said a lot of roads would have been fixed by now if the government had followed agreements.

“We are now entering into the rainy season and as we speak a lot of construction has stalled. Some of the contractors have moved from sites because the contractual agreement hasn’t been met. If you want to see the efficiency of a Ghanaian contractor, payment has to be made. We are challenging the minister to pay us well and then we’ll provide the quality he wants. The passion and energy the minister spoke with yesterday, I love it but he should put that same passion into paying us,” he told Francis Abban on Morning Starr Monday.

The contractor also bemoaned the challenge with political contractors in the construction chain.

“We have political contractors in our midst. A contract that’s supposed to go to tendering is given to a party person who knows nothing about construction. That is also part of having shoddy works”.

Meanwhile, government has earmarked 120 out of 200 programmed bridges in various part of the country for completion this year.

The Roads Minister made the disclosure at government’s press briefing in Accra on Sunday, May 23, 2021. According to him, this forms part of government’s broader plan of improving the country’s road network and bring development close to Ghanaians.

Part of the programmed bridges for construction Mr. Amoako-Atta said are 50 bridges under the Czech Bridges Programme of which “bridge components are being fabricated in Czech Republic with the arrival of 21 of them in the country pending the start of work.”

He also disclosed that among the 120 bridges is Dikpe, Iture and Ankobra Bridge, the Volivo cable stay bridge, Adawso to Ekyeamanfrom Bridge over the Volta in Afram Plains, 89 Mabey Bailey Bridges as well as the reconstruction of Buipe, Yapei and Daboya Bridges.

This he said the contract has been awarded, with preliminary designs submitted, pending approval for work to begin.