According to him, contractors take advantage of that to bloat contract sums when such processes are used for awarding contracts because it does not create competition.

Mr. Hewton made the remark in a Citi News interview in response to some comments by Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo against road contractors in the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”NVu1k3qmYJlGmIV23mznCCZiqNLy8a3x”]The Senior Minister on Monday accused some road contractors of inflating prices of road projects, saying such practices have adverse effects on the country, and does not conform to international standards.

But speaking to Citi News, Joseph Hewton also argued that, the basic material used in road projects is also to blame for the high cost in Ghana.

“What Osafo Maafo is saying could be true in situations of selected tender, where a few contractors are selected to bid for a particular project [hence] there could be inflation of figures. When there is open tender, I can tell you, most contractors go 20 percent below the engineer’s estimate.”

“But you see, when it comes to the issue of road contracts in Ghana being too expensive, I can tell you it is because the raw material that we use in Ghana are far more expensive than what you will even find at the international level – take chippings, bitumen, iron rods, and cement,” he added.

90% of road projects awarded through restricted tendering 

The  New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had earlier accused the former administration of awarding about 90% of road contracts through restricted tendering.

A Deputy Minister for Roads, and Chairman of a committee set up to rationalize the number of roads under construction, Kwabena Owusu Aduomi, who made claim, said over 540 road projects were opened to just a selected number of contractors for bidding.

“What we realized was that, more than 90% of road projects were restricted tendering. Restricted tendering is more of sole sourcing or few contractors being selected to bid for a project,” he said in a Citi News interview.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Selective tendering cause of inflated road projects – Contractor appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Deputy Minister for Roads and Chairman of a committee set up to rationalize the number of roads under construction, Kwabena Owusu Aduomi made the revelation on Tuesday when he presented his report to the Minister.

He said over 540 road projects were opened to just a selected number of contractors for bidding.

[contextly_sidebar id=”cOTeRpXCwG9jyD85xfGhyVineBi6cp91″]“What we realized was that more than 90% of road projects were restricted tendering. Restricted tendering is more of sole sourcing or few contractors being selected to bid for a project,” he said in a Citi News interview.

Mr. Aduomi said his committee in the report recommended that going forward; the ministry must open up the tendering process to cover all eligible contractors in the country and not just a privileged few.

“Our recommendation is that so far as we have a number of contractors who are eligible to execute such projects should be allowed to bid and the ministry should do open tendering so that all those eligible contractors who by our classification should be able to do such a project should be allowed to bid.”

He said this should be done by advertising the project in the newspapers so as to make the process transparent while “the lowest evaluated bidder” is selected.

“…The lowest evaluated bidder is not the one with the lowest amount, the lowest evaluated bidder is the one whose cost or the sum he or she wants to charge is acceptable to the employee and also has the necessary resources both human and logistics and the experience to do that work,” he added.

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) had always accused the Mahama government of having voracious appetites for sole sourcing of contracts which they claimed were inflated at times.

The NPP argued that, sole sourcing allowed corruption, and benefited a privileged few in the Mahama government adding that an Akufo-Addo government will eschew such practice.

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘90% of Mahama road contracts awarded by restricted tender appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The first agreement, worth US$56.6 million, will fund the Tema Motorway roundabout project, and will also ensure the rehabilitation of the Yamoransa-Assin Fosu road which had a portion cave in last year.

[contextly_sidebar id=”DCrBL3tdIoHcJQ3Fj0AT3nsNSlypFWq6″]Other projects that will be undertaken with the fund, include the rehabilitation of the 31.2km Assin Fosu – Asssin Praso road section, reconstruction of drainage facilities along the same stretch and installation of a toll collection facility at the south of Assin Praso township, among others.

The second agreement, worth USD1.8 million, will promote health service delivery in Ghana.

Signing the agreement on behalf of Ghana, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, said the facility will promote social development in Ghana.

On behalf of Ghana, the Minister also expressed her gratitude to Japan for the assistance.

“The government and the people of Ghana sincerely appreciate the considerable financial and material support extended by Japan to Ghana over the years in our quest for economic growth and development. In addition to the Eastern corridor bridge project, Japan has extended grant aid and concessionary Yen loans amounting to millions of funds to support the government of Ghana in areas such as food security for underprivileged farmers. Fisheries promotion in Sekondi, promotion of CHPSS compounds and poverty reduction project.

“Tonight, we have witnessed the signing of grant aid for two very important projects. Mainly the project for the improvement of Ghanaian international corridors which forms part of the West Africa growth wing project, and the programme for poverty reduction strategy, health sector worth 6 billion, 259 million Japanese Yen and 200 million Japanese Yen respectively. These are all meant to promote economic and social development in Ghana.”

The aim of the grant, according to the Japanese government, is to alleviate poverty and improve health care delivery.

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By: Marian Ansah & Caleb Kudah /citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana, Japan sign $58.4m grant for road, health projects appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The NCCE together with two NGOs; the Coalition of Domestic Election Officers (CODEO) and CDD-Ghana, described the situation as unfortunate.

In a statement signed by representatives of the three institutions, they expressed regret to the parliamentary candidates, the Gbawe Mantse and opinion leaders of the constituency for the incident.

They explained that the general understanding at the national level was a partnership between the three institutions to undertake such debates in 60 selected constituencies across the country.

The confusion that resulted in the subsequent decision to reschedule the programme for a later date, according to the statement, was because of a miscommunication on the respective duties of each institution in the collaboration.

That notwithstanding, the representatives have reiterated their commitment to support credible elections this year.

They have given an assurance to the  public that the NCCE, CODEO and CDD-Ghana would, in their joint efforts, continue to promote civic and voter education as well as issue-based electioneering.

The NCCE, CODEO and CDD-Ghana, the statement said, have joined forces on many occasions over the past decade on matters concerning citizen involvement with the electoral process and democratic citizenship.

They promised, therefore to formalise their partnerships in their bid to support Ghanaians in the exercise of their civic and voting duties.

They encourage all constituents and candidates across the country to maximise the opportunities presented to them on the different platforms to engage with citizens to ensure that the aim to deliver successful and credible elections are achieved.

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Source: GNA

The post NCCE, CODEO apologise to Weija-Gbawe constituency appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.