Brong Ahafo road contractors demand payments from government
The Brong-Ahafo Regional Association of road contractors have expressed worry about the delay in payment for works executed and thus pleaded with government to honour certificates raised to keep them in business.
The concern was raised in a release signed by the Association’s Secretary, Mrs Esther Quagraine and made available to the media on Tuesday in Sunyani.
The release stated that it had come to the notice of the Association that some contractors had received payments from government which according to Association did not follow the trend payments of certificates were received at the Road Fund Board.
The members pleaded that payments should be made in the way it was done over the years, in order of months in which certificates were received at the Road Fund to enable members in the region also to receive their payments, it said.
The release claimed it reported on air and in the newspapers that payment was being done almost every month, but the 2016 certificates of the Association’s members in the region were yet to be honoured.
It lamented the information of payment had brought about mounting pressure on them by their debtors, particularly the banks while nothing had been paid to them yet.
The release therefore appealed to government to set up a committee to conduct investigation into the mode of payment of contractors to forestall any anomaly and to sanitise the system of payment.
This is because it is affecting the progress of the construction industry and consequently leading to the collapse of their respective companies, it bemoaned.
The release accordingly appealed to government to endeavour to raise some funds, even if it was a loan facility, as a matter of urgency to clear all certificates at the Road Fund to relieve the contractors of their debts.
It also pleaded with government to intervene for the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Cocoa Board to effect payments of their certificates which had been kept for about three years now.
Source: GNA