Ebo Hewton, Chairman of Association of Road Contractors
The National Chairman of the Association of Road Contractors, Ebo Hewton has called on government to review the road tolls describing the current charges as inadequate.
According to him, the potholes and other problems on the country’s roads would get worse unless there is an upward adjustment in the road levies to increase the inflow into the road fund.
Comparing the amount charged in Ghana to Zimbabwe and other African countries, Mr. Hewton said the amounts charged at the toll booths in the country are woefully inadequate, hence the need for an immediate increment.
“Most of the maintenance works that the local contractors do are paid with the road fund and the problem that we have now is that the inflow into the road fund is so low...and as I speak, as at September 30, 2015, the Ghana Road fund was indebted to local contractors to the tune of 280 million Ghana cedis,” Mr. Hewton told Morning Starr host Nii Arday Clegg on the topic the Road construction sector in Ghana; the role of local contractors and the challenges.
Mr. Hewton also attributed the shoddy work done by some local contractors to delays in their contract payment by government.
“We should make sure before we give out money for the contracts, most of the banks in the country are afraid to give out loans to local contractors and those that do that also end up taking all the money from the contractors by the time they are paid because it takes too long for the local contractor to be paid sometimes running into two years.
“These are the things that happen and people accuse local contractors for doing shoddy work and all that, sometimes these things comes as a result of the delays in payment,” Mr. Hewton added.
