This is to ensure that 40per cent of all public contracts in the building industry is reserved for local contractors to help generate employment in the country.

This was contained in a speech read on behalf of the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea at the 11th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana at Koforidua.

He assured that his Ministry would work closely with the association to raise the capacity of building engineers through training to enable them to compete on the international arena.

Mr Atta Akyea said henceforth, when contractors apply for registration with his Ministry, one of the conditions for the registration to be accepted would be evidence of membership of the association.

He urged the members of the association to elect transformational leaders to help transform the association.

The National President of the Association, Mr Prosper Yao Ledi appealed to government to pay local contractors on the completion of their contract to enable them to settle their financial obligations to their bankers.

He said if the current trend in the payment of local contractors continue, soon the business of many local contractors would collapse and foreign companies would take over the building industry in the country.

Mr Ledi called for the re-thinking of classification of luxury vehicles in the country so that people in the building industry would not be burdened with high taxes when they import vehicles for their business.