The Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has disclosed that the ministry will commence legal proceedings to recover approximately US$30 million from Indian construction firm JMC over the company’s alleged failure to commence work after receiving mobilisation payment.
According to the minister, JMC had assured the ministry of its technical and financial capacity to execute the contract and subsequently won the bid.
“There is one unfortunate situation, where we paid JMC at the time when Parliament approved, I think US$158.6 million, and that project should have been completed last year. Almost US$30 million mobilisation, they took the money and didn’t even do one per cent of the work,” he explained.
Mr Agbodza noted that even though payment had been made to the contractor, no meaningful physical work has been undertaken at the project site.
He emphasised that the ministry would not tolerate contractual breaches that threaten the delivery of critical infrastructure, adding that legal steps are being taken in collaboration with the Attorney-General to retrieve the funds.
“We intend next week to work with the Attorney General to further pursue getting our money back within the law,” he noted.
The minister warned that government would rigorously pursue accountability on all road projects to ensure value for money for taxpayers.