Procurement Bill for Parliament

The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama has said Cabinet would soon present an enhanced and well-defined national Public Procurement Bill to Parliament for consideration.

Speaking at this year's annual seminar of the Quantity Surveying Division of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GIS) in Accra yesterday, Alhaji Mahama said in the absence of a detailed national procurement law in the country the government has therefore endeavoured to follow laid down procedures.

The two-day seminar, which ends today, is under the theme: "Procurement Procedures and Cost Management of Civil Engineering Works-The Case of the Road Sector." Contractors, Valuers, Engineers, Surveyors among others are attending.

He said the Bill on Procurement is also to ensure that packaging of works and assignments are done to suit international standards.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama said in this era of positive change the practice whereby contractors or surveyors among other professionals develop good relationships with public officials to gain jobs has ceased.

"The era of personal contacts or whom you know is gone forever. Now it is strictly the competence of the professionals and contractors that can win them a contract. This is yet one of the positive changes that have been initiated by the NPP government."

He said from now on Quantity Surveyors would be represented at the highest level of the Central Tender Review Board to monitor the procedures and rules governing Procurement of Works and Services.

Vice President Aliu Mahama entreated the participants to come out with recommendations to ensure cost management in the areas of Human Entity, Documentation and how to deal with the issue of Indiscipline and corruption.

Touching on indiscipline which he seeks to abate in society, Alhaji Aliu Mahama said, "we cannot have prudent and effective cost management practices when there is outright indiscipline in our society and even among our professionals."

He commended the GIS for initiating moves to form a joint committee with other professionals such as the engineers, architects and planners to check indiscipline.

The Minister of Roads and Transport, Dr. Richard Anane said the current capacity of the Road Fund can sustain only 50-55% of maintenance programmes. He said the current administration on assumption of office inherited road sector arrears amounting ?230.4 billion.

"This debilitating debt would have discouraged any in-coming government from embarking on a massive road infrastructure development. Government as at date has paid a total of ?193bn of the stock arrears."

He announced that the ministry has initiated a policy framework called Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) to promote strategic investment in the road sector and also to promote private sector participation.

He said government is committed to transparency in the procurement process for works and services and sanitisation of cost management to reach achievable rates of road construction per unit length comparable to what pertains in the neighbouring countries.