The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has warned the Chinese contractor working on the 56-kilometre Have-Hohoe road to speed up or have the contract terminated and handed over to another contractor.
He said if the contractor, Greenhouse Development International, is unable to bring the progress of work to 20 per cent in line with the contract agreement, a new contractor will take over.
He explained that since the commencement of the new phase of the road under the Big Push project, the contractor was supposed to have done 20 per cent, but had so far done only 13 per cent on the road, which started in 2012.
“So, obviously, you are significantly beyond schedule and unlike Accra, we do not have flooding or any problem here, and so you cannot use the rain as the basis for delaying your work,” he said.
The minister gave the warning when he led a team of engineers from the Roads Ministry and the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) to inspect the progress of work on the road last Wednesday.
“You have two months to bring your programme up to a minimum of 20 per cent or consider that we will bring somebody else to complete this work because we will assume that for 14 years you are not capable of doing the road, which is a very critical road in the truck road network of our country, he said.
“And are you not tired of being on the same road since 2012, giving excuses. We have changed the rates of this project again and again, and if you were born and live on this corridor, you would have been tired of every government coming to say we are coming to complete this project,” he said.
The minister and the team, including his deputy, Alhassan Suhuyini, were in the area to inspect construction on various sections of road, starting from Atimpoku in the Eastern Region, Volta and the Oti regions.
The team included the Chief Executive of the GHA, Mallam Isaah Ishak, and the Director of the Roads Ministry, James Amoo-Gottfried.
Worst performing contractor
The minister said Greenhouse Development International was the worst-performing contractor on the Eastern corridor road currently.
He stated that the road was absorbed under the Big Push project and “we prioritised your payment under the Cocoa Road and paid you, and so money is not the problem”.
He said the problem in early completion of the project was due to the fact that the contractor was just not working hard enough on the road.
“You do not have enough equipment on site, and the whole 56 km we see you only in Hohoe town and none of the explanations you have given account for you not working,” Mr Agbodza said.
Dust everywhere
The minister said on entering Hohoe, he saw only one water bowser attempting to spray water on the road, which was not even in good shape.
He said all the communities he visited were very dusty, even though the contractor had been paid for moisture conditioning of the road.
To facilitate the speed of the project, Mr Agbodza advised the contractor to create other gangs or teams of workers to ensure timely completion.
We’ll improve
The Commercial Director of Greenhouse Development International, Olivia Guo, apologised for the slow pace of work and the dust situation in Hohoe.
She, however, assured that the company would improve to meet the completion deadline.
“We are sorry about the situation.
We will improve, employ more people and increase equipment,” she assured.
