? Accuse Government For Their Predicaments?
The Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) has expressed grave worry over the inability of government to pay them on time for work done; a development they indicated is leading to frustration and the untimely deaths of members.
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of ASROC Mr. William Apraku Bondzie, noted with great concern that their members are ?dying from pressures from suppliers for failing to honor their part of agreements since government has over the years toss them as far as payments are concern.?
?Our members are dying; we are being chased by our bankers and suppliers for payments on supplies made to them. We can tell you for a fact that we are not able to pay the banks, our suppliers and we are not even able to employ qualified workers to do the job. This in one way or the other is affecting our operations and the industry as a whole,? he lamented.
According to him, in the past road contractors have lost their properties to Banking institutions, Micro finance institutions over non-payment of loans as result of government inability to pay contractors on stipulated time.
?We do not intend to lose pour properties, our reputations, we are hopeful that government will pay attention to our predicament and look forward to building a better Ghana,? he added.
?The question, we, the members of ASROC keep asking based on a very disturbing observation is why it is that upon completion of assigned construction works, contractors have to wait for a minimum of three months for their documents to be processed for payment….series of documents and inspections as well as back and forth movements go on between the road contractors, the respective roads departments, their head offices, the District Assemblies and the Ghana Road Fund.
?.Why all of these back and forth movements go on, road contractors who have taken loans from the various banks pay huge interests on these loans taking to pre-finance the contract work. This leads to high cost of doing business and reducing profitability of road contractors in the country,? he indicated.
The situation, he indicated, is currently causing heart-breaking problems to members? operations and staff management, adding that it is getting worse by the day if nothing is done to curb the situation.
Mr. Bonzie made mention of the fact that although the Banks and financial institutions are to support contractors with discount loans, the banks are failing on that.
According to Mr. Bondzie, the Association had conducted a research into their operations and its attendant problems and established that government for the past three years owes contractors.
He also denied the public assertions that contractors are doing shoddy jobs hence the decision by government to delay their payment.
?We are not just mere propagandists who takes work and refuse to execute them. There are problems that we need to address and the major ones are from government.?
He revealed that the Association is in the process of formulate an Act, Late Payment Act intended to protect contractors against late payments. ?We will push government, stakeholders and parliament until this succeeds,? he said.
He explained that the Act if implemented will seeks to sensitize road contractors to seek support for members and seek awareness about their plights, and find possible solutions to them.
Mr. Bondzie also faulted the Ministry of Roads and Highways for continuing awarding unbudgeted-for contracts.
He also mentioned that the Road Fund which is supposed to be used to fund road construction works is now being used for other projects which fall within other areas.
?It is sad that the Road Fund is used for paying for works which do not come under the road work,? he lamented and indicated that even rehabilitated works are paid for with the Road Fund putting much burden on the Fund.
They appealed to government and other stakeholders in the construction industry to come to their aid in addressing the challenges the Association is facing which included delay payments for job done.
ASROC founded in 1993 as a result of the establishment of a separate ministry for roads in 1992 to liaise with government, ministries departments in areas of road development, and to promote and prosecute government policies for the road sector.
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