Contractors urged to specialize in contract works

Tamale, July 10, GNA - Mr. Stephen Sumani Nayina, Northern Regional Minister has urged contractors to specialize in specific areas of their profession, rather than being general contractors.

He said the tendency of some contractors to undertake all types of contracts whether it was in road or building construction had made them “jacks of all trades and masters of none”, adding that this had contributed to the execution of shoddy works.

Mr. Nayina said this at a meeting with the executives of the Northern Region Association of Road Contractors of Ghana (ARCG) in Tamale on Thursday.

The meeting which was the Associations maiden one with the Minister, was to discuss problems of road infrastructure in the region and other related matters.

Mr. Nayina said for example contractors could specialize in areas such as the construction of bridges and culverts, while others focused on road construction.

He warned contractors who were in the habit of bidding for contracts only to sublet them to others to desist from it, since they would be black listed and not given any further contracts if caught.

The Regional Minister also warned contractors against tendering for jobs at low rate when they knew that such amounts could not properly execute the works for which the bidding was been done, and wondered if they wanted to use the bids to collect mobilization money and abandon the work.

Mr. Nayina also expressed concern about the use of child labour by contractors in their work and warned that he would not hesitate to report those engaged in it to the appropriate authorities.

Alhaji Sherif Mahama, Northern Regional Chairman of the ARCG said the region was the largest in the country and therefore needed more road infrastructure to open it up to the rest of the country.

He appealed to the Minister to task the Ghana Highways Authority and the Department of Feeder Roads and the district assemblies to compile a list of all the roads in the districts for them (contractors) to use as bases for demanding funding for projects.

Alhaji Mahama also complained about the lack of paved roads from the district capitals such as Gushiegu, Gambaga, Nalerigu, Bimbilla, Karaga and Damongo to link them to the regional capital.

The Regional Chairman of the ARCG urged the Regional Minister to constantly remind the president about his pledge to open up the eastern corridor of the region through the construction of a major road through Hohoe to Gushiegu and Nkpanduri.

He further appealed to the government to organize training programmes for contractors to build their capacity and also ensure the prompt payment after they have completed their contracts.

GNA