Gov’t releases GH¢600m to pay road contractors

The government has paid road contractors about GH¢600 million for work done in various parts of the country.
This is despite an earlier comment by the Roads Ministry that the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government left an ‘empty’ Road Fund coffers.
The Roads Minister, Kwasi Amoako Attah told Citi News that the first payment was made in March and the second payment commenced last Friday.
He made the announcement while addressing the press after inspecting some roads in the Greater Accra region.
“[From] the little that we have in the Road Fund, contractors are being paid. We started as far back as March. Contractors were paid something in the region of GH¢300 million. Last Friday, the Road Fund board approved about GH¢300 million and disbursement is going on,” he said.
He added that the government is committed to using the Road Fund to tackle the “precarious roads that we have.”
The Deputy Minister of Roads, Kwabena Owusu Aduom, last week revealed that, money in the country’s Road Fund account was not enough and cannot cater for ongoing projects in the country
He said the Ghana Road Fund was depleted such that, it will take some 10 years to pay for already awarded contracts.
He revealed that the money available would be used to service loans contracted by the former government but reacting to the claims on Tuesday, the former Deputy Minister said the “excuses” of the new administration were “too much.”
He argued that the new government must find ingenious ways of raising money to fund road projects as the former government did same despite the burden of paying back a loan the John Kufuor government had contracted.