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24.05.2016 General News

Make Funds Available For Projects –Ablekuma Central MP To Gov’t

By Bright Dzakah
Theophilus Tetteh ChaieTheophilus Tetteh Chaie
24.05.2016 LISTEN

Chairman of the Roads and Transport Committee in Ghana’s Parliament and a Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central Constituency in the Greater Accra Region Theophilus Tetteh Chaie said governments both present and future should ensure that resources are made available for all projects being executed or intends to execute in other to avoid inflation of project costs. He said this in reaction to raging debate over inflated Achimota-Ofankor project cost.

The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, on Friday 20th May 2016, chided the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, saying its failure to exercise proper diligence over the Achimota-Ofankor Highway project, contributed to the 217 per cent inflation of the project value. The original value was estimated at GH¢40.4 million, but it was bloated by approximately GH¢88 million, bringing the total cost of the project cost to GH¢128.4 million.

A Public Accounts Committee’s Report on the Performance Audit Report of the Auditor General on the Construction of the Achimota -Ofankor Road, which was presented to the House, on Friday, cited the purchase of a BMW saloon car at f $160,305 for the then Minister of Roads and Highways, Joe Gidisu, to use for the inspection of the project.

But reacting to this on Ghana Dadwen, a news and current affairs program on Onua fm, the outgoing Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central pointed out that the cost of Achimota-Ofankor road project would not have shot up if resources were available to complete the project on time. “If money was available and the contractor has everything that he needed to work with, there will not be variation of that project which will lead to a rise in the inertial contract sum” Mr. Tetteh Chaie maintained.

The Chairman of the Roads and Transport Committee in Ghana’s Parliament refuted assertion that he was the part of the Roads and Transport Committee before the project started, pointing to the fact that a project that took more than two years to complete will at all cost see an increment in the original cost, thereby wondering why people should be accusing the government of bloating the figures.

“It is time we make fair analysis of situations, that project was not foreign donor funded, so what do you expect. At a point the money for the project became a problem and materials for the project also kept going up so that is what will happen, we need henceforth should have adequate resources available, this will stop what we are witnessing, that project took 25 months”.

“There are a lot of impressions being created everywhere as if someone intentionally inflated the cost of the project, those reports are false and we need to do the right thing and that is to ensure our projects are well resourced, Mr Tetteh Chaie told Bright Kwesi Asempa.

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