Government says it will release an amount of GH¢­4billion to pay contractors by the close of this month.The amount which consti­tutes part of the GH¢21billion owed to road contractors across the country is to enable them either mobilise to site or complete some of the ongoing road projects which were yet to be completed.Some of these are the Adentan-Dodowa road project, the Ofankor-Nsawam, the Kasoa-Win­neba, the Ashaiman-Akosombo roads, among other new projects that have been pencilled for construction.Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza (middle) interacting with some contractors, Municipal Chief Executives and some road transport operatorsThe Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, disclosed this at a meeting with some contractors, Municipal Chief Execu­tives and some road transport operators yester­day in Accra.According to Mr Agbodza, the mass withdraw­al and stalling of ongoing road project works was as a result of government's prolonged failure to honour certificates submitted by the contractors on works done so far and other completed works.Many of the contractors he explained, were forced to borrow money to pre-finance projects with the expectation of reimbursement, however, the absence of timely payments rendered contin­ued operations unsustainable."At the time of transition, we are told that the majority of road contractors were actually off-site simply because they did some work, raised a certificate and were not paid, some of them, as far back as 2018 their certificates were not hon­oured, and so while they borrowed money, put in the work and were not paid, it was not feasible for them to continue to work," the Minister said.He indicated that at the time of transition, the handing over notes stated that the amount of money owed to contractors was about GH¢­21billion."So you can imagine the scale of the problem we have in terms of why contractors are not on site," he said.The Minister, however assured that the gov­ernment was taking concrete steps to resolve the issue and explained that the government was set to settle GH¢4 billion of the GH¢21 billion to enable contractors return to site and resume work.He stated that President John Dramani Ma­hama, on Monday, indicated that towards the end of this month, the Finance Minister would take steps to "retire" some of the debts owed to contractors so that they can go back to site and complete the work."On record, we are intending to pay some GH¢4 billion towards retiring part of the GH¢21 billion from this month," he stated.Mr Agbodza noted that some of the projects which were approved by Parliament and funded by foreign assistance, stalled after the former Minister of Finance declared the country bank­rupt and its resultant debt exchange programme.He said while some of the contractors secured the contracts with the necessary mobilisation they never started work while others started and abandoned work midway thus inconveniencing motorists and the travelling public.The Minister indicated that the of Minister Fi­nance on assumption of office ordered a critical audit of all on-going road projects, taking into consideration the huge amount of money owed the contractors and assured the travelling public that everything was being done to address the challenges. BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU