President John Mahama has said Ghana’s flagship Big Push infrastructure programme is not intended for small-scale or unqualified contractors, insisting that only firms with the technical and financial capacity to deliver large projects will be considered.
Speaking at the 23rd anniversary and thanksgiving service of First Sky Construction on Sunday, the president said he had received several requests for contracts following the launch of the initiative but rejected appeals from individuals he described as lacking the required capacity.
Mr Mahama said the government had prequalified major construction firms capable of handling complex and capital-intensive infrastructure works.
“When I cut the sod for the Big Push projects, we had already qualified the big companies with capacity,” he said, adding that the programme was not designed for what he termed “wheelbarrow contractors.”
The President said the scale and ambition of the Big Push Agenda demand professionalism, expertise and significant resources, pointing to companies such as First Sky as examples of firms equipped to deliver.
He also noted that successive efforts to strengthen Ghana’s construction sector had improved the capacity of local contractors, enabling them to compete for large projects at home and abroad.
Mr Mahama expressed confidence that Ghanaian construction firms are now better positioned to play a leading role in delivering major infrastructure under the Big Push Agenda.
