MCA Contractors Urged To Beat The February 2012 Deadline
Contractors working on various projects under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Ghana have been urged to work diligently to complete the projects assigned to them, since the country’s programme is expected to end in February 2012.
Under the current arrangement, the five-year programme of the MCA Ghana will not be extended after February 15, 2012.
So far, the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has committed $490 million of compact funds and redisbursed $275 million to finance the programme as of the end of January this year.
These figures represent 90 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, of the compact budget.
MiDA has also received promptly from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) its quarterly requests for funds for the projects.
The Chief Executive Officer of MiDA, Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, who made the appeal at the meet-the-press series in Accra yesterday, said the five-year programme was on course and all major contracts had been awarded for execution.
He expressed the hope that the programme budget would be fully exhausted within the five-year period, as there would be no time extension after February 15, 2012.
He indicated that MiDA’s only plea was that all contractors who had been engaged on the projects would work diligently within the 12-month remaining period to meet their contractual obligations.
Mr Eson-Benjamin stated that the resettlement of persons affected by many projects under the compact had also slowed the progress of some projects, in particular the N1 Highway from Mallam to the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange.
He said MiDA had so far paid compensation to over 11,000 people who were affected by the project, but said they had refused to vacate their buildings and structures and appealed to them to do so to enable the project to be completed on schedule.
He said the N1 Highway project, estimated at $166 million, was a six-lane dual carriageway with service roads and two interchanges at the Dimples and the Mallam junctions and was expected to be completed before the end of 2011.
According to the CEO, that project, which hitherto had negatively affected returns on investments on the contiguous road sections, had been on the drawing board since 1965, adding that construction work had been split into two and contracted out to Messrs China Railway Wuju Group, Lot 1 (6.0 km), and Messrs Monaz, Fortunato-Empreiteiros, S.A. (MSF) of Portugal for Lot 2 (8.1 km).
Mr Eson-Benjamin said $74 million had been invested in the rehabilitation of feeder roads covering 356 kilometres spanning the northern and the southern zones.
He said the well-designed feeder roads would be finished to mainly bituminous surfaces and they were expected to enhance the transportation of goods and services, as well as lead to an increase in agricultural activity and productivity, contribute to food security and facilitate access to domestic and international markets.
He said under its rural services development project with a budget of $73.43 million, three major activities were being implemented to strengthen the rural institutions that provided complementary services for the agricultural industry.
The CEO said under the millennium programme, 406 educational structures, comprising 252 classroom blocks of two, three and six units, would be delivered to farming communities.
Already, 76 school blocks had been completed in 14 districts and the rest, spread over three zones, had been contracted to 32 local contractors to be completed and handed over to the assemblies before the end of the year, he said.
He said the MCA Ghana programme funded by the government and the people of the United States was an innovative business model in terms of delivery of foreign aid.
Under the rigid five-year programme, which has no room for extension, aid is delivered with accountability for results and, therefore, eligibility for the grant funds is based on the country’s policy performance on 17 indicators grouped under three broad policy categories.