UE/R: Contractor on Bolga-Bawku-Pulmakom road packs out; abandons work

Queiroz Galvao MI, the Brazilian contractor working on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom Road in the Upper East Region has packed out of the site.

When A1 Radio’s News team visited portions of the road where the contractor worked, Friday, February 10, 2023, it was clear that the contractor had packed all the firm’s equipment and left the site.

Though the Upper East Regional Road and Highways Directorate is yet to comment on the matter, a deep-throat source who spoke to Moses Apiah explained that the contractor’s abrupt leave could be attributed to the inability of the government to disburse monies for work to continue.

“It is not surprising that the contractor has packed out of site. The government refused to pay him despite numerous follow-ups. So should he just be working for nothing?

"How will he even pay for fuel for the machines? I was told he’s going to a different country. But we wait to see a formal complaint from him through a letter,” the source said.

He added that: “The contractor has already exported some of his equipment to far away East Africa, and might not return.

"We hope if the government is listening and really wants to complete this project, [it] will be able to pay the contractor. We wait to hear from him (contractor) a formal letter as I said earlier.”

The project was expected to be completed in March 2023, according to Peter Dagadu, a consultant to the firm as work was around 44 percent completed somewhere in August 2022.

The 127-million Euro project began in 2016 and was expected to be completed in two-and-a-half years, but due to non-payment of arrears, the contractors withdrew his equipment from the site for about a year.

He was later brought back by the current administration in 2018 with a revised contract sum of 127 million Euros against the preliminary contract sum of GH¢613 million in 2016.

The project includes the construction of three new bridges at the Kulaa River at Bolga which was 30% completed, the Red Volta River at Tilli -80% completed, and the White Volta River at Kobore which was yet to start.

As residents in the Upper East Region, we are heartbroken that the contractor working on the Bolga-Bawku Road has packed out of the site because of lack of funding.

All that we are asking is the government to respond to us. Tell us, for how long. Our lives will be in danger if the contractor doesn't come back to site.

The point is, the three bridges which are at various levels of constructions are death traps to children, women and the elderly. If it starts raining now, if we are just left with 4 months people can not cross to various aspects of the communities either from Bawku or Bolgatanga. People and communities will be cut off.

These bridges aside from the Kobore river which is yet to start, all of them are at various levels of completion.

For instance, the Kulaa River at Bolga is 30% completed, and the Red Volta River at Tilli is -80% completed.

All that we want the government to do is to come to aid of these innocent people whose we know will soon lose their lives if these bridges are not worked on.

The author is an opinion leader from Upper East Region based in the USA