According to the Ghana Chamber of Construction and Industry, the government owes contractors more than ten billion Cedis.
Emmanuel Cherry, the chamber’s chief executive officer, told GHOne business that the industry is already in limbo due to pending bills that have accumulated over the last five years. In the year 2021.
Contractors use credit from financial institutions to pre-fund the majority of building projects, according to him.
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“The government’s delay and refusal to pay contractors on schedule is affecting the business. Many of our members have accumulated bad debt and have been auctioned as a result. We also have outstanding projects, job losses, and a number of our members who have gone bankrupt.
Furthermore, as a result of contractors borrowing from banks and failing to repay them, banks’ non-performing loan portfolio has grown.
While the government has tried to clear some of its pending bills, the chamber says more needs to be done.
“The government committed to pay interest payment certificates of between 0 to 1 million cedis. There is also communication that 1 million and above certificates payments will commence next week.”
As such, Mr Cherry said parliament must swift approve budget proposals to ensure that funds are released failure to which will be detrimental.
