School projects dropped by 21 GHC

General News on Thursday, June 13, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-06-13

A Joy News Hotline documentary revealed that an estimate of GH? 21 million oil revenues for some school projects are largely lost and abandoned. In the worst scenario, the initial cost of the project is excessively inflated.

In the Ashanti region, an administrative block of the University Hospital, a project to treat the large number of admissions to the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Kwame Nkrumah University (KNUST) , was abandoned after eight years.

The project initially estimated at 6 million GH and subsequently revised to about 18 million GH due to delays in completion, now costs 21 million GH.

Next door is Apedwa SDA primary school. The block of six-unit clbadrooms in the East Akim district is sinking after the government has invested 130,000 GH of oil revenues in its construction.

The gaping holes in the library block are obvious. This is life-threatening for students and their teachers.

This is not everything.

In 2011, the government awarded a contract worth more than 58 000 GH? For the creation of additional clbadrooms for Apenkro JHS, in the district of Atwima Mponua, in the region of Ashanti.

Although the building is not yet finished, some parts have developed cracks.

Amoako Sarpong George, deputy director of the school, worries about the slow pace of work.

Faustina Owusua, a student, complains about the way students are sometimes attacked by snakes and lizards during clbades because clbadrooms have neither doors nor windows.

According to school authorities, the project is blocked because the government has not paid the contract, a claim that they attribute to the contractor.

The situation is no different from that of Begoro High School in the Eastern Region.

In 2010, Moferg Company Limited was awarded a contract to rehabilitate the science resource center of the school.

The initial contract amount for the project was over 130,000 GH. The region A.E.S.L. Consultant Frimpong Gyamfi told the Public Interest and Accountability Committee that the government had issued a payment certificate of 52,765 GH to the contractor. It was April 9, 2013.

The contract was to be completed in four months. But, nine years later, what is visible is a pale structure without windows or doors.

Daniel Mensah, director of the Begoro High School, revealed that the contractor had abandoned the site after the start of terrazzo work on the building.

Now, science education in school is dead. Scientific experiment kits are now accumulating dust in the school washroom.

They are asking the government to intervene urgently to complete the project.

In the Northern Region, school authorities in the Bagabaga College of Education face a similar challenge.

The low voltage electricity source at the school forced the government to award a contract for the modernization of the power supply system in 2013 to Jondee Electricals. It was worth 248, 245 GH.

But, at the time of going to press, the transformer that was to be installed to increase the voltage supplied to the college of education is sitting in the administrative block of the institution while the school suffers.

Joy News Kwetey Nartey concludes that during his entire tour across the country, he did not come across any project funded with oil money where people were impressed by the value for money. Dr. Steve Manteaw, chair of the Public Accountability Responsibility Committee (PIAC), believes that much remains to be done.

According to a PIAC inspection report, more than 50% of school projects funded by oil money show signs of serious deterioration less than three years after completion.

The resulting effects have been more suffering for ordinary citizens for whom the law on oil management has been pbaded.

According to this law, up to 70% of oil revenues go to the national budget.

The law further provides that these funds should be dedicated to the development of key sectors such as education, health and water infrastructure, among others.

However, a PIAC 2017 Project Inspection Report revealed that 50% of all petroleum-funded projects in three regions – Upper East, Upper West and Northern – are now ghost projects.

According to the 2015 report on poverty mapping in Ghana, these regions have the highest poverty rate. The incidence of poverty is 70% in this part of the country.