Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Agbogza Governs has warned that road contractors who shortchange the country will be surcharged.
According to him, government henceforth, will not tolerate shoddy works under any circumstances adding that agents of the ministry found culpable will not be shielded. He made the remarks when he took his turn at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, July 30, 2025.
“So this is a very clear message to contractors and consultants. We are no longer going to tolerate shoddy work under any circumstances.
And also the third leg, staff of my agencies who supervise, and indeed read what the finance minister said, and part of our laws” he warned.
He says any contractor executing any project must show competence and commitment to the work they do. He says the days of road constructed failing to meet the required threshold of years must end.
“Everybody knows a road that was built, which should last for 10 years, which is failing. What we are doing is to let agents of state who look into this, to look into them. But going forward, we are seeing that from now, contractors who get work must show competence and commitment to do their good job” he said.
Kwame Agbodza maintains that contractors who connive with bond issuers must be cautious going forward. “For instance, we notice at the ministry that contractors get work and then when they are asked to buy, let’s say, a performance bond, they go to an entity, the entity without making any checks, gives them some cover, believing that government will never come back to cash the bond if things go wrong. Let me sound this warning. From now, when you are a contractor, you do work, and the work fails without explanation. We shall cash the bond.
We shall cash the bond to you to restore the road. If you are a consultant, before you get work at the Ministry of Roads and Highways from now, you will need to buy professional indemnity insurance, because if you supervise work that fails without an explanation, we will draw down on your insurance cover to make sure we cover the damages that you have caused” he stated.
He says the ministry is collaborating with sector agencies to ensure sanity in the award of contracts and execution.
“ If you are working with highways, feeder road, urban road, and you supervise work, or authorize payment for works that were not done, or were not done properly, if we find you out, you will be surcharged. I think that is just quite clear. That is the only way we can restore some sanity and decency, and also improve the quality of work” he emphasized
