Gov’t concerned about construction industry challenges

Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Vincent Oppong Asamoah, has expressed concern about the numerous challenges facing the country’s construction industry.

Among some of the challenges facing the industry is included delayed payments for work done on government projects, lack of capacity to compete with foreign counterparts, inadequate financial capacity, shoddy work and training, he said.

Minister Asamoah made this disclosure at the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG) in Accra.

Speaking under the theme ‘Challenges in the Construction Industry in Ghana’, he said, government is undertaking the necessary reforms aimed at ensuring that all ongoing projects have adequate budget lines before a commencement certificates is issued for work to commence.

This, he said, will be supported by an infrastructure fund that will be designated for infrastructural works to ensure that there is steady stream of funds to pay contractors when jobs are executed.

“It is the hope of government that when this comes into being, delayed payments will be a thing of the past.”

Mr. Asamoah disclosed that government will ensure not less than 30 percent of the value of foreign funded projects will go to local contractors, saying: “The Ministry will from next year through its technical agencies, such as the Architects Registration Council, Engineers Council, Architectural and Engineering Services Limited, organise training programmes in procurement, project management and quality control”.

Nii Djanmah Vanderpuye, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister, recounted the impact the construction industry has made on the country’s economy in providing housing needs of families, individuals, government and, more importantly, the employment opportunities generated for Ghanaians both skilled and unskilled.

He said: “There is no doubt that the Ghanaian construction industry, as in many other economies holds the key to the nation’s development.

“The construction industry contributes significantly to national socio-economic development by providing significant employment opportunities.

“Beyond that, the industry provides the infrastructure and facilities required for other sectors of the economy to flourish, such as schools for education and training; factories and structures for commercial and business activities; housing for basic human needs; hospitals for health care; and buildings for the national communications network among others.”

He appealed that as government strives to address the structural problems facing the economy, government will respond positively to the appeal from contractors.

“I also appeal that you consider foreign partnerships to bid for some of the contracts which are capital intensive and beyond the capacity of a single domestic contractor,” he said.