The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has revealed that the government owes road contractors approximately GH₵21 billion in overdue payments. During a press briefing on Tuesday, July 8, he explained that the widespread withdrawal of contractors from project sites is largely due to the government’s prolonged failure to pay for completed work.
Many contractors have had to borrow money to finance projects in anticipation of reimbursement. However, the lack of timely payments has made it unsustainable for them to continue their operations. “At the time of the transition, we were informed that the majority of road contractors were off-site because they had completed work, submitted invoices, and had not been paid—some of these invoices date back to 2018. While they took out loans to finance their work, the lack of payment has made it impossible for them to continue.”
“At the time of the transition, we were informed that the amount owed to contractors was approximately GH₵21 billion. This highlights the scale of the problem we face regarding the absence of contractors on site,” the minister stated. However, he assured that the current administration is taking concrete steps to address the issue. He disclosed that the government plans to pay GH₵4 billion of the GH₵21 billion owed to encourage contractors to return to the site and resume work.
If you listened to His Excellency the President, yesterday he indicated that toward the end of this month, the Finance Minister will be taking steps to retire some of the debts owed to contractors so that they can go back to site and complete the work. On record, we are intending to pay some GH₵4 billion towards retiring part of the GH₵21 billion from this month,” he stated.
