Contractors to hold forum for presidential candidates

Accra, June 17, GNA - Two associations in the construction industry have teamed up to create a platform for presidential candidates of the various political parties who would contest the December 2008 elections. They are Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) Ghana and the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG), both major stakeholders in the construction industry of Ghana.

A statement signed by Mr Kwaku A. Nuamah, Executive Secretary of ASROC on Tuesday said the Associations plan to use the programme as a forum of interaction between their members and the candidates. It said the programme which will be organized in three for a will be based on the theme: "The Construction Industry and Election 2008." The statement said the rationale for creating the platform, was to give the candidates the opportunity to share with contractors and other stakeholders as well as the electorate who are essentially all road users, their visions, aspirations, plans and programmes for the construction industry, especially those in relation to trunk, feeder and urban or town roads and housing accommodation in the country.

It stressed that the Associations believed that the construction sector was one of the critical sectors for Ghana's agricultural, industrial and socio-economic development.

It said the sector also constituted a major employment base for the country's skilled and unskilled labour force and needed to be seen as a priority by any future government. "This will ensure that the sector plays its proper role in the nation's economic development." The statement said the Associations believed that if Ghana was to become a middle-income nation in the next few years, its infrastructural development must receive concrete and positive attention especially, of those who aspired to become president of the country.

"In the view of the two Associations, all the Presidential Candidates who would appear on the platform for the fora, would be expected to brief contractors and Ghanaians, on their national policies and programmes aimed at addressing problems of funding, equipment procurement, human resource development, and contract project packaging.