MTN Ghana, DVLA, Vokacom, Others Honoured At Project Management Awards

MTN Ghana has won the Project of the Year award at the maiden project management awards held last Saturday at Kempinski in Accra.

The company bagged five awards for various projects it executed. The awards include Project Manager of the Year, Project Management Company, Economic Impact and Distinguished Contribution to Organizational Project Management won by Mr. Willian Tetteh.

National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) won the Social Impact Project and Environmental Impact Project bagged by the Ghana Wildlife Society.

Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) was also honoured for Innovative Project, Pencils of Promise for Donor Project and Vokacom’s AsaaseGPS won Best Start-up Project.

Special awards were given to outstanding personalities for their rich contribution towards the promotion and growth of project management industry in the country.

Ing. Boakye Appiah of ECG was honoured for his distinguished contribution to project management, Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Projects Group, Jean Asare with 15years experience in project management consultancy and training was honoured Professional Development in Project Management and Michael Awuah for Distinguished Contribution in Consulting.

Others include Joshua Odai (Posthumus) for his distinguished contribution to project management in Training & Consulting, Arch Team 4 for their recognition of Successful Projects implementation, also honoured for Successful Projects implementation and Knowledge Tree International Institute honoured for Distinguished Contribution to Project Management Training Services.

Speaking at the maiden awards under the theme, “Rewarding Project Management Excellence in Ghana,” the Deputy Chief Executive, Finance, Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr. Ebenezer Tagoe on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer said a lot of government projects are not completed on time, they exceed budget, exceed scope and sometimes totally fail to meet the desired objectives.

He noted that these problems have confronted all governments since independence. “From what I know now, it is poor project planning and poor project management that sometimes creates the above problems.”

Mr. Tagoe added that projects are said to be successful when they create economic or business value within scope, within budget, within the time allocated for the project, and with all the features as originally planned.

“A key factor that will make the difference is the proper and efficient execution of projects by recognizing professional project managers and building the capacity of teams, and establishing centers of excellence such as Project Portfolio Management Offices within the MDAs so as to enhance proper management of projects in Ghana,” he stressed.

According to him, for Ghana to realise the benefits of good project management practices all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should consider using part of their annual training budgets to provide Project Management Training for key staff members who manage projects within their establishments.

Mr. Tagoe intimated that all MDAs should consider establishing Project Management Offices (PMOs) in their establishment to help execute projects efficiently and mentor professional project managers.

“We may consider using the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) as the national project portfolio management office to oversee the proper planning, executing and coordination of projects,” he stated.

Mr. Tagoe posited that Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) unit under the ministry of finance must be equipped to monitor and evaluate progress of projects and programs under the purview of the Ministry at regular intervals to ensure their successful implementation;

He said companies/contractors that execute large government projects must have professional project managers on their teams.

The Convener, Project Management Awards Ghana, Dickson Agyapong-Bempa indicated that project management profession in Ghana has seen strides towards improvement in the knowledge and implementation of projects.

According to him, the industry has began to witness a growing interest in the profession and the need to give it attention.

Mr Agyapong-Bempa noted that his outfit resonates with this growing passion and further wants to deepen the profession to promote excellence, standards and social impact in Ghana.

“By recognising deserving winners for their great efforts, we hope to showcase their success as a model and standard. We hope also that collectively we would create a movement to realise the full recognition of the profession in Ghana,” he emphasized.