Surcharge contractors for shoddy work

Takoradi Jan. 2 - GNA-Members of the Awutu Citizens Union based in Sekondi-Takoradi have called on the Government to surcharge contractors who execute shoddy works so as to ensure that the tax payers money were not thrown down the drains.

The call was contained in a resolution adopted by members at the Union's annual end of year review get-together held at Takoradi on New Year Day.

They cited for example the Kasoa-Bawjiase trunk road, which has started developing potholes some few months after reconstruction. The members maintained that the Kasoa-Bawjiase road, which is plied by heavy traffic, should be strengthened to make it more durable. They noted that there had been too many shoddy works by some contractors throughout the country over the years. It was high time government ensured that infrastructural development projects were more durable and beneficial to Ghanaians.

The members also appealed to the government to construct the Awutu-Bontrase road, which had become virtually impassable and dangerous to lives of passengers who risk travelling on the road. The members further asked the government to tar the two-kilometre road from the Ayensu starch factory to Ayensuako to facilitate easy transportation of cassava to the factory as well as other foodstuffs to the Bawjiase market.

They commended President Kufuor for establishing the Ayensu starch factory at Bawjiase under his special initiative programme, which has created jobs for the people in the area.

The members however, called for the re-constitution of the management and the board of directors of the company to ensure effective management so as to achieve the purpose for which the factory was established. They alleged that the present management of the factory does not pay farmers who supply cassava to the factory promptly.

The members said as a result of the management's delay in payment, most of the 10,000 registered farmers of the company have started using their cassava for the production of gari and cassava dough. They pointed out that if the situation was not checked immediately, the factory would lose its raw material base and thus undermine the successful operation of the factory.

The Chairman of the Union, Mr. Godfrey K. Nyanney, suggested a round-table conference between the management of the company and the farmers to re-examine the 150,000 cedis price offered to the farmers for a tonne of cassava in view of high cost of labour and to attract more farmers to sell their produce to the factory.