Competitive Tendering Delays Road Construction Commencement- Sammy Gyamfi

The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has justified the government’s decision to opt for sole sourcing instead of competitive tendering in the Big Push initiative.

According to him, resorting to competitive tendering would delay the commencement as well as the completion.

“Competitive tendering processes have, in some cases, lasted for months. A typical example is the competitive tendering process for the Road Toll project that has still not been completed in about a year due to its complexities.”

In addition, he cited legal frameworks backing the government’s use of sole sourcing, arguing that there was no proof for any breaches of the law, abuse of the process or inflation of cost.

“Section 40 of the Public Procurement Law provides for the single-source procurement method on grounds of urgency, among others, subject to the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA). Thus, sole sourcing is lawful. The unjustified use and abuse of sole sourcing is what President Mahama and the NDC have condemned.”

He added that all Big Push projects awarded through sole sourcing received prior PPA approval, as the same was justified on grounds of “urgency”, with Value for Money audits conducted.

“The contracts were not awarded to a select few but rather carefully selected, multiple, competent and experienced contractors with demonstrable capacity to complete the works on time.

“None of the contracts has been established to be inflated. The urgency of the projects cannot be denied. And like all road projects, payments are based on actual work done certified by independent Consultants.”

Story by Hajara Fuseini

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