Road Minister Cautions Against Unfunded Contracts Amid Growing Payment Arrears
Accra, Ghana - Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has cautioned that Ghana’s persistent road contract delays stem largely from the award of projects beyond the state’s funding capacity.
Responding to a parliamentary question from the Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Ralph Poku-Adusei, on efforts to address stalled and delayed road contracts, the Minister said fiscal prudence not the number of contractors is the real determinant of timely project completion.
“Mr. Speaker, the easiest way to avoid contractors being given contracts and the work not being paid for is if we limit and assure ourselves that we only award contracts when we can fund them,” Mr. Agbodza told the House.
Mr. Agbodza highlighted a significant mismatch between budgetary allocations and contractual commitments in the road sector. “In the last budget, the CAPEX of the ministry may be around GH₵2.53 billion, but the commitment of the ministry is over GH₵101 billion. That does not even include work that has not been paid for, which is approaching GH₵30 billion,” he revealed.
He explained that such gaps make it difficult for government to pay contractors on time, leading to project suspensions, deterioration of partially completed roads, and rising costs due to interest on delayed payments.
The Minister acknowledged that both government and Members of Parliament share responsibility for the problem, often pushing for projects under public pressure without regard for available resources.
“Unfortunately, Mr Speaker, including myself, when Members of Parliament are under pressure to intervene in the nature of roads in their constituencies, we all forget that when we pass the budget, there is only a certain amount of money. We keep asking that contracts are awarded irrespective of what the state can fund,” he said.
Mr Agbodza stressed that “prudence in awarding contracts is the surest solution”, though he conceded it is easier said than done given competing public expectations.
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