The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta, has told Parliament that the government is committed to completing work on the stalled Assin Bereku town roads and the Bereku-Ninkyiso road in the Assin North Constituency in the Central Region.

He stated that the although the progress of work on the gravel surface road, which is currently in poor condition, was 22 per cent complete, the government had not yet paid the contractor any money so far.

He, therefore, urged the contractor, Gwakunda Engineering, to raise an invoice for the work done to be vetted and be paid.

Question

The minister gave the assurance when he answered a question by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Assin North, Mr James Gyakye Quayson, on the floor of Parliament last Friday.

The MP had sought to know when Gwakunda Engineering would be paid for the 20 per cent of work done so far on the Assin Bereku roads and the Bereku to Ninkyiso road in the constituency to enable the contractor to go back to site.

Progress of work

Responding, Mr Amoako-Atta said the contract for the first phase of bitumen surfacing of the 2.5 kilometres (km) Assin Bereku-Ninkyiso feeder road and the 1.8 km Assin Bereku town roads was awarded on December 19, 2019.

He said works on the project commenced on March 17, 2020 with a scheduled completion date of March 16, 2021.

“The progress of work is projected at 22 per cent physical completion.

The process of measurement and certification for work done begins with the contractor either submitting his invoice for work done to be vetted or requesting for joint measurement together with the resident engineer,” he said.

Contractor’s obligation

When Mr Quayson enquired why the government had not yet paid the contractor since the project commenced, the minister said the government had not paid any money due to the failure of the contractor to raise invoice for payment.

“The contractor working on the project has neither submitted any invoice for vetting nor requested for joint measurement.

Therefore, no IPC has been raised and the employer (government) does not owe the contractor,” he said.