‘Show up Friday or lose the contract’ – Roads Minister warns Top International over abandoned Enchi–Elubo road

The Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has given Top International Engineering (Gh) Ltd. until Friday to appear before the Ministry and explain its handling of a stalled road project or risk having its contract terminated.

Top International Engineering (Gh) Ltd., also referred to as Top International Construction, was awarded the contract for the 71.25-kilometre Enchi–Elubo road project in the Western North Region.

The Minister said the government would no longer tolerate what he described as the contractor’s failure to show sufficient commitment to completing the project.

“Meet me on Friday, 7 o’clock at the ministry, with everybody that matters in that company, or they should consider the job taken away from them. It’s as simple as that,” Mr Agbodza said.

According to him, the contractor has repeatedly failed to respond to directives to return to site and accelerate work on the project.

He said the government had previously engaged the company over concerns about the poor state of the road, but the owner of Top International failed to appear at meetings with the Ministry or the Highways authorities.

“I am very disappointed in Top International Company. They did not take our instruction to come to site and work seriously the way we thought they should,” he said.

The Minister said the situation was particularly concerning because the contractor had already received GH¢82 million for the project.

“Top International basically doesn’t intend to do the work because they think they have our GH¢82 million,” he said.

Mr Agbodza, however, explained that terminating the contract would not necessarily mean the GH¢82 million already paid would be lost.

He said the payment was backed by a bond, which could be cashed by the government if the contract was terminated.

The Minister also criticised the level of work completed along the project route, citing inadequate drainage and other essential road infrastructure.

“Look at all the towns, no concrete working, no u-drains, nothing. Just a few cross culverts they did at the beginning. What is that?” he questioned.

Mr Agbodza said the contractor had been associated with the project since around 2016 and had been given opportunities under successive governments to undertake the work.

“We are not taking this the third time,” he said.