Dr. Ernest Addison, BoG Governor
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison, has stated that the institution did not breach any procurement laws in its quest to build a new headquarters for the Central Bank.
His statement was in response to concerns raised by the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, regarding the estimated cost of the new headquarters situated in Ridge, Accra.
According to the MP, the cost of the building rose from an initial USD 81.8 million to USD 121 million and is currently threatening to exceed USD 250 million.
He also alleged that a construction firm, selected through a single-source Public Procurement Authority (PPA) process for the project, is not a registered entity within the country.
In his response, the Governor revealed that the decision to proceed with the construction of a new building was made in 2019 and was driven by the Bank’s profits.
He revealed that BoG begun to search for a suitable new office in 1990s. The Bank was allocated an unnumbered 5.19 acre land in Accra central by the lands commission which also had issues.
“The Bank did not have access to the land since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration refused to give the Bank vacant possession on the grounds that they had never agreed to give up ownership of the land. The Bank continued to search for suitable land for its Head Office throughout the period from 2013 to 2016. More recently in 2018, the Bank approached the SIC to acquire its vacant land at Ridge near the Ridge Hospital,” he stated.
The Governor added that the government issued an Executive Instrument to allow BoG to acquire that land and SIC was duly compensated. BoG therefore began to plan the building of the new office taking into consideration all requirements for a modern Central Bank that meets international standards.
Dr. Addison also asserted that all actions were taken within the bounds of the law and no procurement laws were broken in the acquisition of a new building.
“The decision to commence construction was taken in 2019 when the Bank generated profits. Appropriations for the Head Office were made each year from profits in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The project has, therefore, been going on for over 3 years. The DDEP only took place in January 2023. If we were to be taking the decision today, building a legacy Head Office would not have been a priority,” he explained.
“However, this is a project that has been running for 3 years and about 50 percent complete. The Bank is fully aware of its responsibilities to ensure that the costs do not escalate beyond reasonable levels and that many of the original design features to including data centre, currency processing centre, ICT equipment, and specialized security features have been deferred and only grey boxes provided for future use to manage costs,” he added.
By Abigail Seyram Atinuke Adeyemi