The Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GhCCI) has expressed its disappointment at comments by the Minister-designate for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah that no local contractor has the capacity to undertake the design and construction of the Accra-Tema Motorway Extensions Project.

Kwasi Amoako-Attah who took his turn at the ongoing ministerial vetting on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, noted that the government signed a contract with the Portuguese conglomerate Mota-Engil to construct some interchanges because it has the ability to carry out the projects, unlike Ghanaian construction firms.

But in a Citi News interview, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry, Emmanuel Cherry blamed the inability of Ghanaian contractors to win such contracts on poor payment plan by the government.

He also said any of the major projects funded by foreign donors come with terms that prevent them from being contracted.

“Most of these huge contracts are donor-funded contracts with conditionalities attached. Secondly, most of the local contracts are short-changed because the payment regimes are not favourable to our local contractors to help them build the capacities they require. Whenever a condition is attached to a project, it will be very difficult for a local contractor to go in and win,” he said.

Mr. Cherry further called on the minister-designate to review the payment terms for local contractors when approved by Parliament.

“All we are expecting from the minister is to try as a matter of urgency to review the payment mode at his ministry so that payment will go according to the contractual terms. If payment is very swift as expected in the contact, most of our local contractors are ready to build the financial, technical and logistical capacity to be able to match up with their foreign counterparts in any bid that may come,” he added.