The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has confirmed that GH₵5 billion has been disbursed for the payment of contractors following an audit and validation process.
According to him, a thorough audit of contractor payments enabled the government to prevent substantial financial losses.
Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, Mr. Agbodza explained that the ministry deliberately took time to thoroughly review and verify all certificates submitted by contractors during the transition period to ensure transparency and accountability.
“As of Friday, October 10, the Finance Minister started paying out GHC5 billion owed to contractors out of the over GHC21 billion. The process was that the payment request may not be as it is.
“The Auditor General and others carried out some validation of payments. If we had rushed to pay, we would have thrown away part of your money. Because during the validation, the amount we were told we owed was not exactly so,” he said.
His remarks follow concerns raised by the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GhCCI) about delays in releasing funds for the settlement of outstanding Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs).
In a letter dated September 29, 2025, and addressed to the Roads and Highways Minister, the Chamber expressed disappointment over what it described as the government’s failure to fulfil President John Dramani Mahama’s promise to clear all outstanding payments by the end of July 2025.
According to the group, the delays have imposed severe financial pressure on contractors, consultants, suppliers, and other stakeholders within the construction sector.
However, the Minister indicated that the arrears had grown significantly compared to the figures presented by the previous Akufo-Addo administration during the transition period.
“At the time of transition, the previous government told us that the bills unpaid for contractors at the Government of Ghana (GoG) were GHC21 billion; today, I know it’s far more than that. The road fund indebtedness, they told us, was GHC5.1 billion.
“Today, I’m told it’s over GHC8 billion. GHC120 billion worth of projects were awarded, some of which didn’t even have commencement certificates. They didn’t even have an idea how the contractors were going to work. Indeed, some of the contractors have never turned up on site since 2022, when the contract was awarded,” he explained.
He added that he had already engaged with contractors and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to settle the outstanding arrears.
“And we assured them that the government was going to work to make sure that we make payments to projects duly executed. Since then, the Finance Minister has been to Parliament to present the 2025 budget statement, and they have committed a certain amount of money to retire arrears,” he noted.
It is part of the arrears that led to the payment of over GHC800 million towards the Ofankor project, and we have seen the contractor back on site,” he said.
Source : Adomonline