Government released GH¢ 800 million to pay debts owed road contractor

Contractors refusing to come for payment after crying out severally – Emmanuel Cherry

Refusal to show up delaying payment process – CEO of GCCI

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GCCI, Emmanuel Cherry has disclosed that some road constructors owed by government were not showing up to receive their monies following the lease of GH¢ 800 million to settle debts owed them.

He said the refusal of these contractors to avail themselves to be paid had slowed down the payment process.

Speaking on Citi TV, the CEO of GCCI (Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry) added that after crying out for the government to pay them, the contractors were now refusing to show up to get paid.

“The challenge is some of the contractors are to be blamed for the slow pace of payment. You’ve cried for payment, now the opportunity has presented itself for you to go to Fidelity Bank to sign the indemnity clause, to ensure they process your payment and pay you accordingly. But as we speak now a number of contractors have not visited the bank to go through the needed processes to be paid. This makes it difficult for the bank to effect payment,” he said.

According to him, neither the government nor the bank is at fault this time around.

“This one is not the fault of government or the bank. It’s the fault of the contractors trying to be stubborn. If they are in the system then they should go to the bank and go through the process to get their monies paid to them,” he added.

Emmanuel Cherry, therefore, urged the government to consider paying road contractors whose projects were valued over GH¢ 1 million since more contracts were within that category.

Currently, only contractors whose projects were valved below GH¢ 1 million are being paid.