It has come to light that the contractor working on the Bolga-Bawku-Pulmakom road had remobilized back to site to resume work but left again in no time over concerns of non-payment.
An official of the Ghana Highways Authority said the contractor told his outfit that it had been persuaded by the government to return to site with a pledge to honour payments due it.
However, the government failed to honour its part of the bargain after the contractor returned to site sometime last year.
This, the contractor told the Highways Authority, was the reason it didn’t resume work and left the site again.
The contractor reportedly said it had already incurred additional debt remobilizing to site and could not resume work when the government had not indicated any commitment to honouring its financial obligations.
“Last year, they were asked to come with a promise of some payments. The contractor, and this is a reported speech from the contractor’s end, that they had to borrow money and mobilize back, and only to come and then, the payment was not made, so they left again.”
Shamsu-Deen Isah, the Regional Maintenance Manager of the Ghana Highways Authority, though said government is taking steps to pay the contractor soon and get it back to resume work.
“This time, they want to see payments made before they return, and I’m being told that the procedure is ongoing, and that very soon this year, payments will be made and the contractor will return back to site,” he stated.
The Bolga-Bawku-Pulmakom road is among numerous projects stalled due to the country’s debt default under the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration, according to Minister of Finance Cassiel Ato Forson.
During the midyear budget review in July 2025, the Finance Minister announced that the government had submit a list of 24 projects including the Bolga-Bawku-Pulmakom road to the IMF and the country’s bilateral creditors for a possible resumption of funding for their completion.
The government had described the projects as priority ones and gave 2028 as the timeline for their completion.
Then in October 2025, the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga and Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee Isaac Adongo announced, in a statement, that progress had been made to renew funding for the project.
Isaac Adongo had said the government was aiming to resume payments to the contractor so that works could be carried on by last December.
