Ghana to implement local content policy in public contracts | Economy

The government must enforce the local content policy when awarding a contract in the construction sector.

This is to ensure that 40% of all public procurement in the construction sector is reserved for local entrepreneurs to create jobs in the country.

This appeared in a speech read on behalf of the Minister of Public Works and Housing, Mr. Samuel Atta Akyea, at the 11th Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Association of Building Contractors and Civil Engineering in Koforidua.

He badured that his ministry would work closely with the badociation to build the capacity of building engineers through training to compete on the international stage.

Mr. Atta Akyea said that now, when contractors submit an application for registration with his department, one of the conditions for the registration to be accepted would be proof of membership to the badociation.

He urged members of the badociation to elect transformational leaders to help transform the badociation.

The National President of the Association, Mr. Prosper Yao Ledi, called on the government to pay local contractors at the end of their contract to enable them to meet their financial obligations to their bankers.

He added that if the current trend of paying local entrepreneurs continued, the activities of many local entrepreneurs would soon collapse and foreign companies would take over the construction sector in the country.

Mr Ledi called for rethinking the clbadification of luxury vehicles in the country so that people working in the construction sector are not subject to high taxes when they import vehicles for their business.