Building Contractors Meet With Ministers Over Delayed Payments

The leadership of building contractors has had separate meetings with some key mnisters of state over a number of concerns including the perennial delayed payments for works done.

The move is part of the efforts of the new leadership of the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG), to foster closer collaboration with key ministries and other stakeholders, in order to sanitise the industry and drive its development.

The leadership of ABCECG led by its new President Prosper Yao Ledi met with the Minister of Education Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh with the GetFund Administrator in attendance, the Minister of State in charge of Public Procurement Sarah Adwoa Safo who was represented by her Chief Director as well as the Minister for Works and Housing Samuel Atta Akyea.

They also met with the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations Ignatius Baffour-Awuah.

A statement issued by association in Accra yesterday said at the various engagements, the contractors complained about the adverse impact of the perennial delayed payments for works done, on their business and the entire economy and urged the ministers to help end the practice.

According to the statement, the contractors also urged them to ensure that the GetFund contractors were paid this month as was promised.

The contractors also called for a better streamlining of the tender process to make it fairer.

"We want the project sum for contracts to be disclosed immediately the tender is opened, so that the tenderers will know their fate," the statement said.

Commenting on the meeting, Mr Ledi indicated that the association was taking steps to attract investors who could work with indigenous contractors to take on major projects.

He therefore urged the government to allocate a quota of the intended infrastructure projects in senior high schools and other institutions to them, as their members are in good stead to partner investors to pre-finance these projects.

The various ministers assured the contractors of government's commitment to address their challenges and urged them to exercise patience as steps are taken to fix the challenges.

The Minister of Education assured them of the resolve to pay GetFund contractors using a loan facility that parliament is expected to approve at its current sitting.

On the issue of perceived bias towards foreign contractors, the ministers advised the association to rather look at possible collaborations with foreign contractors and seek to take on projects together, arguing that government would not discriminate against indigenous contractors, but could also not shut its doors to foreign firms seeking to do business in Ghana.

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