Gov�t Moves To Speed Up Work On Volta Region Roads

The government has formed a team to monitor and report to the Ministry of Roads and Highways on the progress of work of the contractors working on the Asikuman Junction to Agate road in the Volta Region The 45-kilometre road contract, which is part of the Lot Two of the Eastern corridor roads, is being executed by G.S. International Developer Gh Ltd with the Government of Ghana as the funding agency. The contract, awarded on September 29, 2011 and commenced on December 5, 2011, was expected to be completed within 24 months at a cost of GH�105,777,580.31. However, physical progress of work as of November 30, 2014 stood at 26.59 per cent, while the financial outlays as of November 30, 2014 was 30.25 per cent, with the overall time spent on the project to date standing at 36 months. The Chief of Staff, Mr Prosper Douglas Kweku Bani, who announced the establishment of the monitoring team last Friday in Ho, after he joined the Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, to inspect the road directed that the team would be expected to submit a report to the ministry every three months. The visit was a fact finding one led by the Chief of Staff, the Minister of Roads and Highways, members of parliament from the Volta Region and some selected district chief executives from the region. During the inspection, the contractor requested for 15 more months for the completion of work. Mr Bani said the government was committed to ensuring that work on the Eastern Corridor road was completed on schedule and announced that the government had set aside GH�20 million as a standby resource to pay the contractors working on site . Briefing journalists on his observations after the tour, the Chief of Staff said it was evident that the contractors had returned to site and work was going on in earnest. In addition, he directed the contractors who had complained of variations due to increasing cost of work to submit their new calculations by Tuesday, December 16, 2014 to the ministry to agree on the way forward. Meanwhile, Mr Bani has summoned three contractors working on the Ho-Adidome road, the Ministers of Finance, Roads and Highways to a meeting in his office today to address the challenges facing work on the road. He called for the meeting after he had expressed dissatisfaction with the work done so far by the contractors on the road during an inspection of a number of roads in the Volta Region last Friday. The Ho-Adidome road was given out for emergency works for upgrading to relieve travellers of the difficulties they encounter following the closure of the Adomi Bridge for rehabilitation works. The contractors are Progressive and Modern Company Limited (PMC), Messrs Jah Nicorf Ltd and Usuaya Ltd. The Chief of Staff described as unacceptable the performance of the contractors Earlier, the Resident Engineer of the Ghana Highways, Mr Divine Quashigah, who briefed the Chief of Staff said the three contractors had done some work though not up to satisfaction. He, however, said the contractors had complained of delay in honouring their certificates, citing for instance that PMC had an outstanding certificate worth GH�1.5 million which was yet to be paid to him.