The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako-Atta says GHS800 million has been made available for the payment of works executed by road contractors across the country.

This follows agitations by some contractors over the delayed payment for projects completed, in some cases as far back as 2016.

Some had threatened legal action against the government in a bid to get their monies.

Speaking at the inauguration of the 14-member Road Fund Board, the sector minister indicated that the government is committed to paying the outstanding debt owed them.

He stated that “I am happy to announce to you that government has for almost one and half months now started robustly and in earnest payment to contractors, and you would know that payments come from two main areas. Either Government of Ghana which is from the ministry of finance and then the road fund and substantial payments have already been made to contractors around the country and the records are there even as I inaugurate this board on behalf of his excellency the president.”

“The Ministry of Finance is beginning to release GHS800 million to pay contractors across the country and the documentation to that effect is ready and is being sent to the Ministry of Finance and the Finance Minister has made that money available,” he added.

Meanwhile, while delivering his acceptance speech at the same event, the newly sworn-in chairman of the road fund board and Member of the Parliament for the Effutu constituency, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, expressed the board’s commitment to ensuring that roads in the country see a major facelift.

“Let me state that we wholeheartedly accept the appointment without any reservation. As a team, we will work together to execute the mandate of the fund for the benefit of the good people of Ghana. Indeed, the thrust of our gathering here today is effectively statutory in character, i.e. the swearing-in of the new Road Fund Management board.”

“In my view, however, the reason we are here is more than just statutory, in fact, many more Ghanaians are likely to die out of road accidents due in part to driver indiscipline and the poor quality of most of our roads this carnage I believe must end. As a board, we can play our role towards ending the slaughter on our roads by working diligently to ensure that the quality of our roads, highways, and bridges improves remarkably. Accordingly, the task ahead of us involves prudent management of the proceeds coming to the fund and ensuring that the quality of our roads, highways, and bridges provide the highest level of quality and user safety”.

The Chamber of Construction Industry has consistently mounted pressure on the government to constitute the road fund board.

This is because the board is required in facilitating the payment of contractors for projects they have executed.