SOCIAL:Non performing contractors in E/R to be blacklisted

Victor Smith (Reg. Min)

Non performing contractors working on government projects in the Eastern Region have to rethink their actions in order not to loose their contracts or opportunities to secure future contracts.

This is because the Eastern Regional Minister, Victor Smith has sent strong warning to such contractors to improve on their performance or be forced out of business in the region.

Mr. Smith who was overwhelmed by the high number of government contracts that have either been abandoned or delayed said the attitude of some of the contractors was not helping government quest of accelerated development.

Though most of the contractors complained of lack of payment from government, Mr. Smith said they may have genuine concerns but that was not enough grounds for such magnitude of abundant projects. 

According to him, most of the contractors rushed for contracts from government and use such documents to access loan facilities from banks and then divert the funds to other projects. He said serious contraction firms must be able to work to appreciable levels or even finish contracts before knocking at the doors of government for payment because no matter what, after assessment and certification the fund would be released.

He indicated that most contractors give the impression that they are capable of delivering on time but complain of money as soon as they win the contract.

He also blamed authorities for awarding multiple contracts to one company with enough evidence of their financial strength to deliver.

But the minister assured that things would change under his leadership. He disclosed that a number of contractors identified to have delayed or abandoned their contracts have already been summoned to his office where they were given time limit to make some level of progress on their jobs, failure of which  would be serious sanction including blacklisting them .

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanadistricts.com