Attorney General, CID To Probe ‘Inflated’ Conti Project – Atta Akyea

Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, has indicated government's intent to prosecute persons involved in the inflated Conti project.

In response to a question in Parliament on the project, which is also known as the Accra Sewer and Storm Drainage Alleviation works, the Sector Minister said the difference in the contract sum approved between government and Conti and that approved by Parliament amounts to $55 million.

The difference, he says, cannot be traced to any justifiable expenditure.

Speaking on the intent of the Ministry, the Minister said plans in place involved a two-pronged solution tackling the criminal and civil dimensions of the handling of the project.

“We intend engaging the Attorney General to do the civil [part] and then the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service will look at the criminal dimension,” Mr. Atta Akyea said.

About the Conti Project

The CONTI project was expected to bring an end to the perennial flooding of Accra during the rainy season.

Despite being approved by Parliament on October 25, 2012, the project did not proceed as planned.

In 2013, the government of Ghana and the Conti Group of Companies of the United States of America signed a US$660 million agreement for the drainage and sewage project.

Known as the Accra Sanitation, Sewer and Storm-Water Drainage Alleviation Project, authorities said the development will control the perennial flooding as well as the sanitation challenges facing Ghana's capital, Accra.

The project was aimed at improving stormwater flow, drainage and sewer systems in the Accra Metropolitan Area with a primary focus on works within the designated flood zones in the Odaw Basin and the Korle Lagoon to alleviate the frequent flooding and improve sanitary conditions.

The focus was to tackle priority drains needing construction and upgrade drains in the following areas: Odaw Upstream, Mataheko, South Kaneshie, South Awudome, Onyasia Tributaries, Nima Main and Nima Tributaries, Sukura/Mampon Drain and the Industrial area drain.

The contract sum was in two folds; a loan agreement of US$538,299,497 between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the United States of America for the construction of the Accra Sanitary Sewer and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Works project; and a loan agreement of US$125,000,000 between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and Standard Chartered Bank for the construction of the Accra Sewer and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Works project.

---citinewsroom