People In My Ministry Who Condone ‘Sabity’ Works By Contractors Will Be Weed Out

Roads and Highways Minister, Kwesi Amoako Atta has sworn to expunge all shoddy road contractors from the system to address the sub-standard roads and bridges in the country.

Mr Amoako Atta noted that in the construction industry, shoddy work is called ‘sabity’ which is very derogatory to use that to describe one’s work as a contractor.

The sector minister revealed that some of the shoddy contractors have collaborators in the ministry who help them get away with the poor work they do, but he is confident that the guidelines would ensure strict supervision and monitoring in the bid to avoid 'sabity' works.

“People in my ministry, who condone ‘sabity’, will be weeded out – and the self-styled Engineers and Surveyors will also be weeded out,” the minister said.

He continued, “I believe the President gave me the role as Minister out of trust and I am not going to sit by and watch some nation breakers build bad roads and line their pockets at the expense of the country,” he said, “Sabity will surely be a thing of the past under my watch.”

Speaking at the 3rd West African Construction Awards held in Accra Friday night where road contractors, real estates players and some individuals were rewarded for their work.

The sector minister indicated that they are coming up with very rigid guidelines for road construction to ensure a more stringent selection, certification and supervision process to weed out the self-styled unprofessional contractors from the system.”

The minister also said the rigid guidelines would also ensure that the incidence of rampant cost overruns in the road sector would be completely avoided.

He said it is even worse when, as a minister, so many roads are described as ‘sabity’ under his watch, and that is something he is personally determined to avoid.

He believes it is time for the processes of selecting and certifying contractors to be made stringent to stem the shoddy works and save the industry of continuous disasters and embarrassment.

The Minister wants the stakeholders in the industry to help the ministry identify and weed out the few bad nuts giving the entire industry a bad name.

Awardees at this year's West Africa Construction Awards in a group photograph

He encouraged local industry players to learn from their foreign counterparts in the country and also ensure proper training and capacity building for their peers to bring some sanity into the system.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Instinct Wave, Mr Akin Naphtal said, “In the last three years the Industry has evolved, with a lot of high rise projects springing up in our skyline across West Africa and Ghana in particular."

According to him, the award scheme which was last held in 2016 took a two year break in order to give the industry more space for immense growth and new discoveries.

“And indeed we have seen tremendous growth, now in its third year, the Award will recognize the enormous achievements of the construction industry and its contribution to the sub-Saharan economy, " Mr Naphtal added.

Below is the list of award winners:

ORGANIZATIONAL AWARDS

HSE Equipment Provider of the Year

Tomstar Enterprise

Indigenous Construction Company of the Year

Berock Ventures

Construction Equipment Provider of the Year

Joshob Construction

Architectural Firm of the Year

ArchXenus

Consultancy/Quantity Surveyor of the Year

ADK Consortium

Building Material Supplier of the Year

H&M Timber and Hardware Ltd

Civil Engineering Consultancy Firm of the Year

PPMC

Residential Development Award

Regimanuel Gray

Fastest Growing Steel Company of the Year

Fabrimetal

Steel Company of the Year

B5 Plus

Road Contractor of the Year

Joshob Construction

Outstanding Women Empowerment Strategy in Construction Award

Archxenus

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Architect of the Year

Nana Akua Oppong Birmeh

CEO-Archxenus

Real Estate Entrepreneur of the Year

Mr. Emmanuel Botchwey

CEO-Regimanuel Gray

Outstanding Woman in Construction

Nana Akua Oppong Birmeh

CEO-Archxenus

Construction Executive of the Year

Mr.Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah

CEO-Berock Ventures