Construction industry urges sanctioning of procurement officers

Demands for the institution of sanctions to penalize public procurement practitioners who flout the procurement Act have been made by the Chairman of the BUSAC Built Environment Steering Committee

Mr Rockson Dogbegah said while the Act reserved some contracts under the National Competitive Tendering process to local companies, this has often been abused in favour of foreign companies because of the absence of sanctions.

He said a sanctioning regime would ensure the procurement officers adhere to the law and give such jobs to local companies to improve performance and competitiveness.

Mr Dogbegah was speaking at a sensitization workshop for Built Environment professionals in Accra as part of the process to ensure the promulgation of a law to regulate the industry.

He said there must be a deliberate attempt by all stakeholders to grow the industry through training and certification of practitioners.

He added the lack of an effective regulatory system put players in the industry in works that they were not supposed to do because they are not monitored effectively.

It is in this connection he noted there was the need to support indigenous companies to give them an even playing field with their foreign counterparts.

Mr. Dogbegah called for a deliberate policy to guide and regulate the construction industry, as well as the Need for stakeholder recognition.

The Ghanaian construction industry is faced with a lot of challenges. The issue about non-performance of local contractors could be blamed on the lack of deliberate policy to train the professionals’ and build the capacity of contractors.

He said: “We are advocating for an apex body as had been done in other countries to regulate, build and enhance the capacity of the players in the construction industry.

“Such an apex body would have the data on all players and their capacity to deliver on projects, projects they had executed in the past, and those they were currently working on to help in guiding government and stakeholders who seek to contract them.”