The Director for the Ghana High Way Authority in the Upper East region, Philip Samini has said the construction of the popular Bolga-Bawku road has delayed partly due to the lack of funds.
The contract for the construction of the Bolgatanga-Bawku road has been awarded to two companies; a Ghanaian company, MAWUMS and a Brazillian company, Queiroz Galvao construction limited.
Although the stretch been constructed by the MAWUMS is a smaller portion of the road and per the contract signed in 2012 the company was expected to complete it after eighteen months, the company has stayed on site for years and has been unable to complete the work.
Some few weeks back, the contractor after been frustrated by lack of funds moved off site; a move that infuriated the masses considering the deplorable state of the road.
But speaking to A1 Radio’s Samuel Mbura on Daybreak Upper East, Philip Samini indicated that the delays on the road is partly due to the failure of government to fulfill its part of the contractural agreement.
“It takes a lot of money to construct roads and if the contractor is not been paid it becomes very difficult for him/her to execute the work easily. The 12 kilometer stretch can be done within some few months but if government is releasing funds say every eight months, the work delays and that is what is happening to MAWUMS.”
According to him, he had to speak with the contractor to consider the plight of his people using the road and the fact that the road was recording several numbers of death through armed robbery attacks.
He, however, indicated that although the contractor has moved to site, he was not sure for how long the resources mobilised will keep him there.
Although there have been calls on government to terminate the contract it has with MAWUMS, Philip Samini indicated that it will not be logical on the government to take such a decision because of the cost the it will incur.
“It is not logical for government to terminate MAWUMS’ contract because it will bring an extra cost to government. The government will have to pay for demobilization and pay for his inconvenience and when they mention the monies involved, they are not small sums . MAWUMS is capable and if given the needed funding can give good results.”
Source:a1radioonline.com/Ghana
