RECONSTRUCT BOLGATANGA ROADS —HAKIM (D/G Monday September 15, 2008. PAGE 40)

THE Upper East Regional Chairman of the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC), Mr Dauda Hakim, has called on the government to reconstruct roads in the Bolgatanga Municipality to befit its status as a regional capital.
Mr Hakim made the call at a special general meeting of the association held at Bolgatanga.
“Potholes have become a regular feature in the municipality and with the onset of the rains within the past two months, travelling in the area has become quite tough,” he stated.
Mr Hakim said roads such as the one leading to the ministries area had gone from bad to worse and at any point in time, vehicles could be seen swaying dangerously in their bid to dodge deep potholes.
He stated that although some road contractors had been engaged to do some repair works, there was the need to carry out complete reconstruction and expansion of the roads to modernise and improve the road network in the municipality.
Touching on other challenges facing the association, Mr Hakim advocated that all government projects below GH¢50 million should be awarded to local contractors based in the region while foreign contractors could partner local contractors for contracts above that figure.
He also called on awarding agencies to deal with only contractors registered with any of the associations when giving out jobs as that would help the associations to sanction such a member in the event of non-performance.
Mr Hakim advocated a review of the Public Procurement Act to favour local contractors and entrepreneurs, since the present system was cumbersome and left little and sometimes no room for discretion even in times of emergencies, adding that it was also over centralised and favoured only the clients.
The regional chairman advised local contractors to desist from under-pricing for jobs, since that was not helpful.
The Regional Director of the Ghana Highway Authority, Mr Francis Hammond, and the acting Regional Director of the Department of Feeder Roads, Mr K. Omane Brimpong, urged the local contractors to follow the laid down procedures and guidelines by providing all relevant documents when tendering for jobs in order to meet the requirements.
Mr Hammond implored them to execute quality jobs in order to win future contracts.
The Deputy Regional Minister, Mrs Agnes Chigabatia, exhorted members of ASROC to think about the general development of the region and not their personal interests in the execution of their jobs.
She stated that award of contracts was not based on political lines as perceived by some contractors, and advised them to do efficient work to attract future contracts, emphasising that the government was counting on contractors to deliver quality jobs to help reduce the poverty of the people.