Kumasi, Feb 6, GNA-The Association of Building and Civil Contractors of Ghana (ABCCG) has made an appeal to the government to consider involving its members in the execution of projects under the proposed housing scheme.

Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Vice-Chairman of the Ashanti Region branch of the association, who made the appeal, said the use of more of the members of the ABCCG in construction of houses under the scheme would not only eliminate shoddy works but also guarantee quality out put.

He made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi at the weekend on measures and strategies that could be adopted to flush out shoddy work in the construction industry. Mr. Premeh said because the association has a technical team made up of civil and structural engineers, architects and quantity surveyors who liaise with the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) to give technical advice to members, it is not easy to come out with any shoddy works.

"The technical team visits members at their contract or project sites and offers them free technical advice and also ensure that the work being done is carried out to specification and in a quality manner", he added.

Mr Prempeh said this aside, members of the association also enjoy free capacity building and training workshops designed to upgrade their skills in the construction industry by the BRRI and the Ministry of Works and Housing as well as the Development Office. He said all these coupled with professionalism makes members of the association competent contractors and therefore appealed to all who are not members to swiftly join the ABCCG to enable them to benefit from such unique facilities.

He was of the conviction that the inability of local contractors to secure "big time local contracts was not because they are incompetent but because they lack the requisite capital and equipment". To enable them also to compete effectively with multi-national and foreign firms for contracts locally, it was crucial for the government to assist them have easy access to loans to procure equipments, he stressed.