The Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry says it is putting together a draft bill to bring into fruition the Construction Industries Development law to regulate the operations of road contractors in the country.

According to the Chamber, such a law will aid in sanitizing the industry and address concerns about substandard road construction.

In an interview with Citi News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Emmanuel Cherry, said contract awarding agencies must conduct thorough due diligence before choosing a contractor for a project.

He said if this is not done, it will only worsen the delivery of shoddy works by some road contractors.

“We are putting together a draft bill to pass the Construction Industry Development Law so that we can regulate the practices and acts of contractors in the country. It is becoming too much of free entry and free exit which is not helping anybody. The awarding agencies must also take part in the blame for all these problems.”

The Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, recently warned contractors to desist from engaging in shoddy work or risk paying more for maintaining the roads.

According to him, the ministry has introduced a new road concept known as the Output and Performance-Based Contract (OPBRC) aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of road asset management and maintenance.

“In traditional road construction and maintenance contracts, the contractor is not responsible for the design, but only execution of the works within the contract period and one year defects liability or maintenance period.

“This method of contracting puts the responsibility of the quality of the roads during the construction period under the contractor. The more durable the road is constructed, the less maintenance the contractor undertakes,’’ he added. The Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr. Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa, has endorsed government’s decision to set up the Development Bank – Ghana.

The Ministry of Finance and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, signed an agreement for the provision of a €170 million facility for the establishment of the new national bank.

This event took place when President Akufo-Addo met with the President of the European Investment Bank, Dr. Werner Hoyer, as part of his official visit to Belgium.

Many have questioned the need for another national bank, given the existence of the National Investment Bank (NIB), Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), the Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG), and the Ghana Commercial Bank.

But speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV, Dr. Mensah-Abrampa stated that the establishment of the National Development Bank has always been a part of the government’s development plan for the country.

He added that the bank would go on to contribute to other development plans for the country.

“This has been there, it is part of our development plan and in the medium development plan it is specific. It is there to support, particularly providing an avenue for assessing resources for, particularly the private sector so that they can engage in the development of infrastructure, industries which is a very big problem. A lot of contractors are given contracts and they find it difficult securing resources so this is a huge opportunity for us.”

“Industrial development is very keen if you want to engage in long-term development investment this is a big opportunity. Development bank can lend resources to other banks and it provides a single avenue to also attract investors who can also invest in these banks and through that, directly affect other development plans in the country.”

Responding to comments on the loan acquired to set up the bank, the Director-General of the NDPC stated that it was normal to acquire the loan. He also stated that, if Ghana is able to utilize the fund appropriately, it could trigger local opportunities.

“There is nothing wrong with setting up this bank on a loan. Many of these other banks are set up on the same premise. Money doesn’t fall from anywhere. Money means that it’s coming from a source and one of the major sources for setting up a lot of these banks is taking credit from a certain source so that you can begin to also trade and then use that as a means to satisfy another.”

“The key thing is that because you are taking it over a range of a period and in certain volumes, the interest rate is relatively down, and if you are able to optimize your business accruements and to reduce cost, you should be able to make a lot of gains from it,” he added