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The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, has vowed not to sign the certificate for payment of contractors for poor road execution.

The watchword was quality and that they were going to make sure that there was value for money, he added.

He was speaking during an inspection of road projects in the Amansie Central District, Bekwai and Obuasi Municipalities.

These included the 48.50 kilometre (km) Tweapease-Fenaso, and the 28.10 km Bekwai-Adankranya feeder roads, drainage works and reshaping of the 1.5 km Obuasi-Boete road.

Mr. Osei-Mensah asked contractors to see to it that contract specifications were met, telling them that, they owed a duty to the people to do the right thing.

He criticized the situation where many completed road projects began to deteriorate not long after they had been handed over, resulting in a waste of the nation’s resources.

This, he indicated, could not be allowed to continue and must stop.
The Minister expressed satisfaction with what he saw but hinted of convening a meeting with the road engineers to ensure that any noticeable defects were corrected.

The three-day roads inspection tour would also take him to the Sekyere East, Sekyere Central, Sekyere Afram Plains and Sekyere South Districts.

Mr. Osei-Mensah underlined the unswerving determination of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) to effectively monitor and properly supervise the implementation of all government funded projects in the region.

The Regional Director of the Department of Urban Roads, Mr. Theophilus Quaye, highlighted the need to look for funding to re-start work on the 15 kilometre Obuasi-Abompe by-pass to traffic congestion in the gold mining town of Obuasi.
Work on the project stalled, last year, for lack of money.