Desist from using substandard materials to build — Minister

 
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Collins Dauda, has attributed the collapse of buildings in the country to the use of poor building materials by contractors.

He observed that in most cases the kind of building materials used by contractors were not up to standard and were cheap. 

Mr Dauda made those remarks when he addressed participants in the annual general meeting of the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL) in Accra.

The minister further challenged contractors to use locally manufactured materials in their works to reduce the cost of building.

Mr Dauda said a study had revealed that the use of local materials in the construction of public buildings brought the cost of the project down by 30 per cent.

To this end, the sector minister tasked the executive of the AESL to put in place a contract document that compelled contractors to use local materials in their works.

Mr Dauda was optimistic that patronising local materials would also create jobs for many Ghanaians, to reduce  unemployment.

Ministry's support to improve local building materials

He stated that minority was prepared to support and partner the AESL to improve the quality of local building materials and designs for global competitiveness.

He assured the AESL of the government's commitment to address the delay in the payment of consultancy fees by the government, ministries, department and agencies.

AESL accepts challenge of the minister
The Managing Director of AESL, Mr Louis Satchmo A. Atongo, stated that his outfit had accepted the challenge of the minister and had already put in measures to address the issues. 

Mr Atongo indicated that the company had invested substantially in technological infrastructure and hoped to improve architecture in the country in the years to come. 

He added his voice to the call on engineers and contractors to use standard materials in their building projects.