Redundant construction workers who claim they have not been paid their salaries for close to two years, have expressed agitations.
According to the workers they have not been remunerated for their work done on the just commissioned interchange by the President Akufo-Addo on Friday June 5, 2020.
Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb, on the side lines of the commissioning, one of the aggrieved workers said they had been promised a salary of GHS2,800 a month. This amount, according to them, was however slashed to GHS650 subsequently by the contractors.
“We have suffered and sacrificed for this project a lot. From day one since we started this project, they’re supposed to pay us the workers GHS2,800 a month yet they rather paid us GHS650 a month meanwhile, it shouldn’t happen like this."
“…Now, even for the overtime, they are supposed to give each worker GHS10 per hour for labour and instead of that, they’re giving us GHS3 per hour. Even for Sunday which is not a working a day, each worker is supposed to pay earn GHS160 as part of labour for Sunday yet they rather gave us GHS46. Where is the rest of the money?” they lamented.
They argue that the contractors have maintained this stance with them since the project commenced, they therefore are demanding payment of their arrears.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo commissioned the Tema interchange on Friday, June 5, 2020, which saw part of the motorway being closed to traffic for construction works to be carried on.
The project, which had a June 2020 deadline was financed by the Japanese government with an estimated $57 million earmarked for the project.
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