Wa, Oct. 30, GNA- Mr George Hikah Benson, Upper West Regional Minister has given a one-month ultimatum to contractors who have abandoned government development projects to go back to work or have their contracts terminated. He has also instructed district assemblies to pay all outstanding debts owed contractors who had completed their projects before awarding new ones.

Mr Benson gave the ultimatum at a meeting with contractors, consultants, Highways and Feeder Roads Officials during his inspection tour of development projects in the districts recently. He also used the occasion to listen to their concerns and challenges and how best to tackle such problems.

He said the government had promised the people with development projects and advised the contractors not to hold back the programmes by adopting delay tactics and other unorthodox practices. "During my inspection tour, I realised that some of you were slow in the execution of the projects and the jobs were also not satisfactory", he pointed out.

Mr. Benson warned that those who had been found to be executing shoddy jobs would be short listed together with the consultants who supervised such projects, adding: " Inadequate supervision on the part of some consultants had resulted in the poor delivery of projects". Some of the contractors mentioned the lack of mobilization money, delay in payment of contractors after completion of jobs, lack of equipment for contractors, and high interest rate on loans from the banks as factors that were undermining the progress of their work. The consultants also mentioned inadequate funding of projects as a major problem affecting the construction sector.

They expressed their concern with contracts awarded by the district assemblies, which they said, were always over-subscribed resulting in delays in the payment of contractors and compelling them to ask for review of contract cost.

Mr. Benson in reaction to the concerns raised, pleaded with some of the contractors to release all school projects that had been completed to the authorities for use while efforts were made to settle them. He assured the contractors that his administration would award contracts on merit and not on Party affiliation, saying: "I want to work with hard working contractors and not lazy ones. 30 Oct. 07