Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah
The Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, has entreated the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Western Region to expedite action on all projects being executed under the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Programme (GSCSP).
The minister explained that those projects are pivotal to the government’s broader agenda of fortifying secondary cities as engines of socio-economic growth.
Mr. Korsah made the appeal when he visited the Western Region and inspected some ongoing infrastructural projects in the Ahanta West and Effia-Kwesimintsim municipalities of the region under the GSCSP.
He toured two road construction sites, and 50 lockable stores with ancillary facilities at the Agona Nkwanta Market in the Ahanta West Municipality.
In the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipality, the minister toured various roads and drainage construction sites to see how far contractors had gone with those works.
He was not happy that even though the time frame given to the contractors for the projects was almost due, much work had not been done.
Mr. Korsah expressed concern over the fact that one contractor was overseeing all the projects within the Ahanta West Municipality, hence the delays in the progress of the work.
He said his sector would no longer entertain any form of variation, therefore contractors overseeing government projects must work assiduously to complete them within the agreed timelines.
“If the contractors fail to complete the work by September 15 as agreed upon, the contract will be taken from them and awarded to a more competent construction company,” Mr. Korsah pointed out.
He was however, hopeful that the projects would be completed on schedule to serve their intended purposes of boosting the socio-economic development of the region.
In addition to insisting on timelines, the minister called for a heightened focus on quality.
He urged district assemblies to reinforce their supervisory roles, ensuring that all projects meet the highest standards of durability and efficiency.
“The quality of these projects will determine their longevity and their value to our communities. We cannot compromise on this,” he stressed.
John Agyare, the Ahanta West Municipal Chief Executive, asserted that the delay in the projects’ completion were due to the contractors’ inability to commence work on schedule.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi