The Regional Industrial Relations Officer for the Western and Western North Region of the Construction and Building Materials Workers Union of TUC Ghana, Mr Elijah Joe Neizer, has
confirmed that the three-tier interchange PTC Roundabout project in Takoradi has been halted and has also resulted in 300 construction workers on the project being laid off.
Owing to the abrupt stop of the construction project, Mr Elijah Joe Neizer, speaking in an interview on Beach Newsroom affirmed that the laid off workers are entitled to receive a severance package as well as other benefits following the project halt.
Given that it can not be fully determined at the moment as to whether the lay offs are temporal or permanent, Mr Elijah Joe Neizer attested that ongoing meetings on the ministerial board are “still pushing to make an amicable solution”
The three-tier interchange PTC Roundabout which began construction in 2021 has been acclaimed to be a barter project between Ghana and the Chinese government where the Chinese government will receive bauxite in return for its hydropower engineering and construction company, Sinohydro to be involved in the construction project.
However, due to economic difficulties, the Ghanaian government requested a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was agreed upon in December 2022, and had one of the conditions being the cancellation of all ongoing projects, including the PTC Interchange.
As a result, Sinohydro Corporation Limited’s construction on the PTC Interchange and the majority of its other national projects has come to a complete stop.
Following this assessment, workers on the PTC project have reportedly not been to work since Saturday January 14, in view if the layoff and also, majority of Chinese expatriates have also returned to china.
According to Mr Elijah Joe Neizer, “nobody knows when thing’s are going to be resolved for them to come back to work. It is very unfortunate that this issue has come up”.
He further stated that the Western Regional Minister, Hon. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah is “trying to make sure that things will be put in order for the project to continue”.
Author-Roberta Appiah
