Execute projects to specifications —Minister of Roads

He expressed concern over the undue delay in  the execution of contracts and the shoddy nature of some of the works, for which he blamed some supervising engineers for failing to live up to their responsibilities of ensuring the delivery of quality work.

Alhaji Sulemana, who emphasised  the need for the timely and efficient execution of projects, further observed that “there are no bad contractors;  there are only bad engineers.”

The minister was speaking during an inspection tour of the Dipali irrigation project in the Savelugu/Nanton District in the Northern Region at the weekend. The project forms part of the 21 irrigation schemes being constructed in some parts of the country. 

The project is being undertaken by the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP). The programme is an eight-year agricultural initiative that was inaugurated in 2009 by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

 It aims at reducing poverty and ensuring food security among rural households in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions,  as well as five other districts in the Brong Ahafo region.

The African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Ghana are co-financing the programme.

The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Clement Humado, said the project was in line with the policy of the government in helping to improve on the lot of rural farmers in beneficiary communities in the country.

He expressed the hope that with the successful implementation of the schemes, it would stem the tide of the migration of the youth in the north to the southern sectors of the country to seek  greener pastures.

The minister called on the management and contractors working on the various aspects of the project to ensure that work was not only completed on schedule but was done to specification to achieve its intended purpose.

The National Programme Coordinator of NRGP, Mr Roy Ayariga, said his outfit was using a multifaceted approach to address food insecurity in Northern Ghana.

The programme is premised on commodity value chain development, rural infrastructural development and improved access to financial services by all stakeholders in the production chain.

He, however, expressed concern that the people risked losing all the benefits that came along with the programme if contractors failed to ensure the timely and efficient execution of the work.

For their part, the contractors also expressed their frustrations in delays in the issuance of certificates, inadequate  funds and high interest rates on loans as some of the challenges they encountered in the smooth execution of the projects.