Minister calls for change in contract awards procedure

Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, has called for a change of the procedure for awarding contracts in the country to help reduce the incidence of shoddy work by contractors.

He noted that the practice where projects were awarded to those who put in the lowest bids was not the best as prices quoted by those who emerged winners tended not to be based on realistic assessment that ensured value for money.

Mr Boafo was addressing a day's seminar organised by the Ashanti branch of the Association of Building and Civil Contractors of Ghana (ABCCG) in Kumasi at the weekend.

It was designed to provide a platform to discuss effective ways of addressing the canker of shoddy work in the construction industry.

The Regional Minister also spoke of the need to hold responsible and to surcharge officials who certify poorly done contracts for payments to be made.

He told the association to also have the nerve to either sanction or blacklist any of its members guilty of shoddy work to help give a new image to the Ghanaian contractor.

The Regional Minister was not comfortable with the situation where some contractors did not engage competent personnel in their companies but relied mostly on cheap labour, telling them that, "you need to employ the right personnel to produce good work."

Mr Pat Hagan, Regional Finance and Economic Planning Officer, spoke of the need to hold regular site meetings for the clients, consultants and the contractors to discuss the progress of work at every stage of the construction.

He appealed to contractors to be more patriotic and not allow themselves to be carried away by the desire to make abnormal profit.

Mr Kwame Afreh, Ashanti Regional Chairman admitted that all was not well in the construction industry as evidenced from shoddy work all over the place.

He told his colleagues that every cedi lost through shoddy work put a lot of pressure on the taxpayer and the government and said it was for this reason that everything should be done to find solution to the problem that had become a canker.

Mr Afreh said to help bring some sanity into the construction industry, the association had been organising capacity training programmes for its members.

He was, however, unhappy that most contractors continued to stay outside the association and said it was this group of contractors who were most guilty of poor contract performance.