Road Ministry, agencies review 2015 performance

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, has blamed poor and inadequate supervision and monitoring of projects for the shoddy work in the road sector.

Addressing the opening session of the annual retreat of the ministry and its agencies at the Volta Serene Hotel in Ho last Wednesday, the minister stressed that one of the several reasons ascribed to those occurrences was the lack of adequate supervision of the projects.

The three-day retreat seeks to provide an interactive platform for the ministry and its agencies to review their activities in the past year and plan for the effective implementation of its programmes in 2016.

On the theme: “Consolidating national efforts towards better road infrastructure, maintenance and financing,” the participants will brainstorm the way forward.

Alhaji Fuseini outlined the need for effective supervision and management of road projects to ensure value for money.

Award of contracts

Touching on the award of contracts, the minister directed agencies under the ministry not to overburden contractors with projects in order to ensure quality and timely completion of contracts.

“Contracts are awarded to contractors already bogged down with work all over the country. They, therefore, have to move the limited resources they have around the country,” he noted, pointing out that such actions result in the late start of projects and ultimately delayed their completion.

Database

Alhaji Fuseini said the direct effect of the overburdening of contractors was the several abandoned and or below schedule projects in the agencies’ respective road portfolios.

He expressed concern about the absence of a credible database on contractors’ workload and said that had affected decision making.

He stressed the need, therefore, for the ministry to develop and maintain a credible contractors’ workload database which should be available to all agencies to consult before the award of projects.

Alhaji Fuseini further directed that works awarded to contractors should also, as much as possible, be confined to specific geographical locations to avoid the problem of having to move the “already limited and old fleets of plant/equipment over long distances”.

He said it was important that strategies were put in place to ensure that the requirements for classification of contractors with respect to equipment holding, as well as total value of work on hand, were strictly complied with in the evaluation of bids prior to the award of contracts.

The minister also directed all heads of agencies not to award any contract which was not within the approved budget for the year without prior approval from his office.

Alhaji Fuseini urged the staff to practise fiscal prudence in the delivery of their plans and programmes to support government’s commitment to exercise strict fiscal discipline.

Vision

In his welcome address, the Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Isaac Adjei, said the ministry’s vision was to provide and maintain an integrated, cost-effective and sustainable road transport network that was responsive to the needs of users.

He said investment in infrastructure, especially roads, was crucial for achieving sustainable development and empowering communities.

The Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Mr Francis Ganyaglo, who chaired the function, said road transport was a catalyst for accelerated socio-economic development, adding that it was the key policy drive for wealth creation.