The government has paid a total of six billion Ghana cedis to contractors working on road projects inherited from the previous administration. This payment follows a directive from President Mahama to release over one billion cedis to the contractors before Christmas.
Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhassan Suhuyini, disclosed this during an interview on State of Affairs on GHOne TV. The Tamale North Member of Parliament explained that settling the outstanding arrears was a prudent decision, emphasizing that completing existing projects would ultimately be more cost-effective than abandoning them and starting new ones.
Suhuyini highlighted the government’s approach, noting that they expanded the scope of several projects, such as the Kasua-Winneba stretch, which has been prioritized under the government’s “big push.” He explained that payments were based on the percentage of work completed. For contractors who had completed about 60% of their projects, it made little sense to allow the work to go to waste.
“So we decided that if a contractor had done say about 60% of the work, there was no point allowing that to go waste. Because if you did not pay the contractor, (0:37) he was not going to be able to complete the works,” he said. “And if you allowed it like the NPP did when they came into power in 2017, it was going to take more money to do that same road in the future. So it was better to pay such contractors so they could complete those works.”
Suhuyini emphasized that it was better to pay these contractors now to ensure the timely completion of the projects, which is why the six billion cedis was disbursed.
On a separate note, the Deputy Minister urged the Minority leadership in Parliament to reconsider their approach following recent disruptions in the House, describing their tactics as ineffective and calling for a return to more constructive strategies.
