Mr. Samuel Ofori-Offei, President of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors has bemoaned the practice whereby surveying projects were awarded to non-professional companies and surveyors, saying the practice was unacceptable. "We think this practice is not fair .... we suggest surveying contracts should be awarded to qualified surveyors to ensure quality and timely delivery," he said. Mr Ofori-Offei made the call in Accra when he paid a courtesy call on Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing to introduce the Institute's executive committee to the Minister. He said surveyors were also not happy with delays in the payment of contracts executed, adding that the Survey Department alone had over 300,000 Ghana cedis (three billion cedis) outstanding fees to pay to surveyors. Mr. Ofori-Offei appealed to the Ministry to take a proactive stand and intervene on behalf of its members to enable the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to release their money. The President also called for the facilitation of the passage of the Survey Profession Act that would establish a Council to regulate and manage the professional practice of surveyors and create a licensing regime for them. He pledged the Institute's support to provide the necessary technical assistance to assist the Ministry. Mr Saddique assured the executives of his commitment to support their work, saying they were needed as partners to provide technical expertise for development. He expressed the hope that with the implementation of the Land Administration Project initiated by the Ministry of Forestry, Lands and Mines, challenges that affected survey work would be addressed. In a related development, Mr Stephen Ntow, the new Country Representative for WaterAid, also called on the Minister to interact with him and share his organisation's vision in the provision of safe and potable water for all. He said WaterAid spent two million pounds annually in the area of water provision, sanitation and advocacy programmes and was currently operating in eight regions. Mr. Saddique called for continuous collaboration between the Ministry and WaterAid in order to provide potable water to communities that were prone to Guinea worm infection. Source: GNA