Ken Ofori Atta
The Ministry of Finance has responded to allegations by the Minority in Parliament that the government had already spent GH¢636 million on Agenda 111 even before the sod cutting of the project.
Responding to the speculations, the Ministry stated that in paragraph 400 of the Mid-Year Review Statement, the project is expected to be implemented in two phases; Pre-Contract Works, and Construction and Execution of projects.
“In 2020 GH¢ 600 million was released to the Health Infrastructure Account at Bank of Ghana (BoG) to support the implementation of the district and Regional Hospital Projects. This is the equivalent of the 100m US Dollars as announced by the government and will be disbursed to contractors by the project work pain,’ a release from the ministry explained.
It stated that the said amount had been released into the project account at the BoG but not utilized yet.
” Project commencement has just begun So far, only GH¢36million has been released as part of pre-construction mobilization.
Following the commencement of actual project execution as evident in the sod-cutting ceremony of 17th August 2021, we expect to drawdown various amounts from the account which would be managed by the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GF),” it added.
The ministry assured the public that the government is still committed to tackling Ghana’s health infrastructure deficit and restoring the country on the path of achieving economic and social transformation.
“In this regard, we will ensure the use of local teams comprising of Ghanaian consultants, project managers and construction firms to execute the project and also ensure due process during disbursement and procurement,” it stated.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri