Supply bitumen or lose government business – Roads Minister to supplier

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has urged GoEnergy Company Limited (GOE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Goil Plc, to ensure a consistent and timely supply of bitumen to road contractors to help prevent shortages of the critical construction material from delaying projects.

He said the government had deliberately directed a significant share of its bitumen procurement through GoEnergy to secure competitive prices and establish a reliable supply chain for road construction.

He, however, cautioned that the arrangement must guarantee adequate and timely deliveries, warning that the government would seek alternative suppliers if GoEnergy failed to meet contractors’ requirements.

“We decided that much of the bitumen product would come from GoEnergy but if they are not able to supply the required quantities, we will have to take a different route and look for alternative suppliers,” he said.

Leading a team of engineers to inspect reconstruction of the 53.35-kilometre Have–Hohoe road in the Volta Region on Tuesday (Nov 10), he said, “if you cannot provide the bitumen, we will look for alternative suppliers. We were trying to give a competitive advantage to GoEnergy but if they cannot, we have no time to wait for anybody,” he said.

The minister expressed these sentiments after he took a swipe at Greenhouse International Development (GH) Limited for the sluggish pace it was executing the Have-Hohoe road project.

But the contractor raised concerns about delays in accessing bitumen, a key material required for asphalt production and the surfacing of roads.

Speaking on behalf of the company, its Administrator, Gerome Chen, cited delays in the supply of bitumen as one of the challenges affecting the pace of work, with the material reportedly arriving on September 10.

Such delayed supply had contributed to the delay in its operations, he said.

He explained that the company used performance grade (PG) bitumen for its asphalt production and that the limited number of suppliers in Ghana had made it difficult to secure the material.

“Sometimes, because our asphalt is PG, Ghana has only one company that can provide good bitumen. From September 10 to October 20, this year Ghana did not have PG bitumen,” Mr Chen said.

PG bitumen, also known as Performance Grade bitumen, is an asphalt binder classified according to its ability to withstand specified high and low pavement temperatures.

Responding, Mr Agbodza said the government’s decision to rely significantly on GoEnergy was intended to leverage its supply capacity and obtain the material at competitive rates.

He, however, said the arrangement must not become a source of delays in project execution.

He indicated that contractors needed consistent access to bitumen to maintain their construction schedules and deliver projects within the agreed timelines.

The minister pointed out that while the government was committed to securing competitive prices for construction materials, the availability of bitumen must not compromise the delivery of road infrastructure projects.