We will be fair in awarding road contracts - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama on Monday gave the assurance that government would work hard to ensure discipline in the award of contracts to avoid delays in the payment of road contractors after the execution of projects.

He said the situation where contracts were awarded to contractors without budget had created a lot of hardships on the contractors “which we are working to avoid in subsequent times".

President Mahama gave this assurance when two associations of road contractors called on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.

The two associations, Association of Road Contractors of Ghana and Progressive Road Contractors Association, were at the presidency to discuss some of the challenges that had impeded their progress over the years and to seek better solutions that would invigorate the activities of the industry.

The Associations appealed to government to review the fuel levy and tolls at various booths since the Road fund was suffocating as a result of low financial inflows.

President Mahama said in the interim, government would source some funds outside the road fund to clear all outstanding debts that government owed contractors before embarking on the disciplinary measures in the awarding of contracts with budget.

He appealed to officials engaged in the signing of documents to avoid the bureaucracy and inertia that had delayed in the payment for the jobs.

President Mahama said there was also the need to decentralize the payment of contractors in Regions and Districts to avoid the situation where all road contractors had to travel to Accra before they receive their payments and other emoluments.

The President also gave the assurance that more government projects would be given to local contractors, not only to build their capacities, but to ensure that much more was retained after the execution of their projects.

Mr Joseph Ebo Hewton, spokesperson for the contractors, appealed to government to review the fuel levy, which he explained had lost its value from six pesewas to three pesewas as a result of the fall of the cedi against major currencies.

He said the low fuel levy coupled with inadequate inflow of funds into the road fund had aggravated the situation of road contractors, who were already affected by delays in signing of documents and the release of funds for the commencement of work.