3 months ago
26 ARTICLE AD
The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has begun the year with a simultaneous inspection of public infrastructure projects funded with petroleum revenues in the Greater Accra and Central Regions.
The exercise was based on information provided by the Ministry of Finance on projects and the accompanying disbursements of petroleum revenues through the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA).
It is in line with PIAC’s mandate of conducting independent assessment of the management and the use of petroleum revenues to ensure maximum impact.
The Greater Accra team was led by the Chair, Emerita Professor Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf, and by officials of the Department of Urban Roads of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, and the Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly in some project sites at Teshie and Spintex.
They were the rehabilitation of selected roads in Teshie Camp, Southern Command and Mats (now Ghana Military Academy), the Construction of the 7.5-kilometre Teshie-Link and the Construction of a Flyover over the Tema Motorway from the Flowerpot roundabout.
These three projects, located in the Ledzokuku Municipality, are at different stages of progress and received funds from the ABFA between 2019 and 2022.
The Team toured the rehabilitated roads, a car park, and a parade ground within the Southern Command at Teshie.
Information available to PIAC showed that the contract for this project was awarded on July 13, 2020 and was supposed to have been completed within 24 months.
At the time of PIAC’s visit, the project was 24 per cent physically complete. Out of the total contract sum of GH¢145.82 million, petroleum revenue of GH¢7.39 million, representing 5.07 per cent, was disbursed to the project in 2022.
The second project inspected by the team was the construction of the 7.5- kilometre Teshie-Link.
It involved the construction of a new road and drainage structures with earthworks and asphaltic concrete surfacing.
Awarded on October 18, 2019, the project had an original contract duration of 18 months. Out of the original contract sum of GH¢87.88 million, petroleum revenue of GH¢29.73 million, representing 33.84 per cent was disbursed to the project from 2019 to 2021.
The PIAC Team was informed that the Teshie-Link Road is a dual carriageway and that the contractor had suspended work due to non-payment of funds.
Outstanding works include the installation of traffic signals and road markings to show a controlled intersection.
The third project was the construction of a flyover over of the Tema Motorway, from the Flowerpot roundabout.
Out of the revised contract sum of GH¢284,665,639.27, a total of GH¢141,093,766.84 representing 49.56 per cent, was disbursed from the ABFA in 2022.
The project is located at the Flowerpot Roundabout, Spintex and East Legon, and involves creating access from the Motorway to the Boundary Road roundabout and an exit into Cantonments from the Giffard Road Interchange.
At the time of PIAC’s visit, the project had made physical progress of 70 per cent.
In the Central Region, the PIAC Team, led by Nana Kweku Dei, a member representing the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), inspected the Anomabo Fisheries College, a 90-bed Hostel Block at Saltpond, and an irrigation infrastructure at Mprumem.
Accompanied by officials of the Mfantseman Municipal Assembly, the team inspected the Anomabo Fisheries College Project, which had received an amount of GH¢9,507,111.52 from the ABFA from 2012 to 2022.
The project comprises of an 18-Unit Classroom Block, Hostel facility, Administration Block, and a Laboratory.
Since the Committee’s last visit to the project in 2020, the construction of a teachers’ bungalow has started, and a 4.6km road project, from the campus to the main Accra-Cape Coast highway, is currently at Phase 1 (Sub-base).
The road contract, originally valued at GH¢8 million, has been through three (3) variation orders and is currently valued at approximately GH¢27 million, primarily due to payment delays.
The team inspected a 90-bed Hostel Block for the Ghana Education Service Development Institute (GESDI) at Saltpond. The project had received an amount of GH¢1,456,960.92 from the ABFA in 2015.
