The Minister of Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has said it is time the one-year defect liability period agreement in road contracts change to hold contractors accountable for the poor road construction across the country.

According to the Minister, the current practice of declaring contractors and consultants’ defect liability period over after just one year after the government had paid billions of cedis on a road must change. 

Extending such defect liability period was the only way contractors could be held responsible for road defects that might emerge after a road had been completed and put into use, he said.

“If you build a road that should last 30 years, why is the liability of a contractor only ending after one year; it should go a bit more than that,” he said.

Engagements 

Speaking during an inspection of ongoing construction works on the Accra-Kumasi N6 highway on Tuesday (Sept 29), Mr Agbodza said he was discussing with the minsters of Finance and Works and Housing to change the one-year defect liability to make road contractors more accountable for the quality of roads they executed.

“After a road construction anything can go wrong but the idea that anytime we pay billions of cedis on a road and after one year we say that the defect liability period is gone and so if anything goes wrong it is not the fault of the contractor and the consultant must change,” he said.

Protecting investment 

Mr Agbodza said extending the liability period would help protect public investments in road infrastructure and encourage contractors to deliver durable and high-quality works.

He said the move formed part of efforts by his ministry to enforce quality standards and ensuring that contractors complied with the specifications of their respective projects.

“We are trying to make sure that they are going by the specifications. And we've had quite a few occasions where we are getting mistakes,” he said.

The Minister said although the ministry was committed to ensuring that roads were constructed to the required standards, there was the need to strengthen the accountability of contractors beyond the current liability period.

In his view, a longer liability period would provide an additional incentive for contractors to pay greater attention to the quality and durability of their work.

Value for money

The minister expressed confidence in the capacity of Ghanaian engineers and contractors to design and execute road projects to international standards.

“I believe the Ghanaian engineer is actually a very good engineer. I don't think there's anything that we can't design and build here,” he said.

He pointed out that the government was relying on local expertise to deliver quality road infrastructure that would withstand the test of time and reduce the need for frequent repairs.

The objective was to ensure that completed road projects remained in good condition for longer periods, thereby enabling the government to direct limited resources towards expanding road infrastructure to other communities, he said.

“We are also trusting that we can do this and do a very high quality road that will last so that when we find more money, we can extend the road to other people,” he said.

He, therefore, urged contractors to see the delivery of durable roads as a professional responsibility and to take full account of the specifications and quality requirements of their contracts.

Mr Agbodza said the ministry would continue to monitor construction works closely to ensure that contractors delivered value for money and that public funds invested in road infrastructure produced lasting benefits for motorists and communities.

He said the government was determined to improve the quality of road infrastructure by strengthening supervision, enforcing specifications and promoting greater accountability among contractors.