Accra, Jan 13, GNA - Members of the Association of Road Contractors on=

Wednesday appealed to the government to review the Road Fund levy upwards= to enable contractors to undertake more road projects. The association said the current levy of five Ghana pesewas per vehicl= e at toll booths was inadequate as the Road Fund had taken additional responsibility of funding some major road projects.

Mr. Joseph Ebo Hewton, National Vice Chairman of the Association, who spoke to the GNA in an interview, said the Fund was now under pressure du= e to additional responsibilities it had assumed. He suggested to the government to seek alternative funding from donors=

and the Consolidated Fund for major road projects rather than overburdeni= ng the Road Fund. Mr. Hewton said although the government had made a part payment of GHC=

160 million to some of its members, there were still arrears of GHC 117 million to be settled. He said only 25 members, mainly foreign contractors, were paid last Monday and appealed to the government to consider paying the balance and that 500 local contractors are waiting to be paid.

"The delay in paying has not only grounded a lot of our local contracto= rs but has also put a strain on the association's finances since most member= s cannot pay their monthly dues to the association". Mr. Hewton said a lot of the contractors depended solely on loans from=

banks and other financial institutions and delays in payment placed serio= us repercussions on them as they had to pay high interest rates.

He appealed to the government to avoid awarding contracts outside the budget as such acts had the potential of delaying payments to contractors= .. "The annual budget for road contracts is normally within the region of=

GHC 120 million and anytime contracts go beyond that it creates hardships=

for contractors," Mr. Hewton said.