A local contractor and former National Council member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Frank Etti, has cautioned government to tread cautiously in handing over the earth-moving equipment to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDCES) under the government’s laudable District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP).
The DRIP, launched July 31, 2024by president Akufo-Addo, is disturbing to each of the 261MMDCE road construction equipmentto enable them undertake road developmental projects, such as reshaping in their respective jurisdictions.
Though the former NPP Council Member strongly believes DRIP is a good initiative he, however, wants government to exercise restraint in handing over the earth-moving equipment to the 261 MMDCE.
To Frank Etti, this was not the first time the government is handing over earth-moving equipment to Assemblies across the country.
Feeder Road, for instance, he said, used to Purchase equipment for contractors on the same system.
It is on record that the previous government gave Grader to MMDCE through collaboration with J Plant Pool, but in the end, some of the Assemblies failed to maintain the machines procured for them, to reshape their respective roads.
Reports indicate that some Assemblies sold the grader machine as scraps. In Ahanta West Municipal Assembly, for instance, reports say that the Assembly had to auction the grader machine at a cost of GH¢15000.00 for the reason that it could not maintain the machine, given the cost associated with maintenance.
It is in the light of this that the former Council Member of the ruling party wants the government to consider handing over the machines to local contractors working in the jurisdiction of the Assemblies.
He said that contractors should be given a grace period to honour payment of the machines as they work to reshape roads in local communities.
This, he noted, would take away the financial burden from the Assemblies in maintaining the machines, fueling and transporting some.
He explained that, given the financial challenges which bedeviled the Assemblies in the release of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), he added that the maintenance of the grader machines, plus fueling and transporting would cripple the Assemblies financially.
“And in the end, they will not be able to use the machines and the machines may end up sitting idle,” he said.
As a contractor himself, Frank Etti explained that it was not easy maintaining a grader machine. He indicated that a bulldozer machine, for instance, uses one drum of fuel for eight hours, a roller on the other hand uses 100 liters of diesel and a grader uses 225 liters of fuel for eight hours.
“There is no way the Assemblies can budget for the fuel of the machines given the dire financial strength of the Assemblies.It will cripple the Assemblies financially,” he told this reporter in a face-to-face interview.
For that reason, he appealed to government to consider handing over the DRIP machines to local contractors rather.
By that arrangement, the local contractor would consider the machine as his property and work diligently to pay for them. He said given that most local contractors had to rely on renting machines to undertake road reshaping exercises, handing over the machines to them would go a long way to boost local content and their morale.
“By local contractors I mean contractors working to reshape roads in each local Assemblies. Because, they will have the means to fuel, transport and maintain the machines.
“As government honours payment for work done, the local contractors would honour payment for the use of the machines,” he said.
