The Ministry of Finance has said it has noted with concerns, speculations in the media based on allegations by the Minority in Parliament that the government had already spent 636million on the agenda 111 project even before the sod cutting on Tuesday 17th August.
The Minority had said they want the Acting Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah-Asiedu, to cause an audit of some GHȻ600m the Akufo-Addo-led government has purportedly expended on the Agenda 111 project.
Failure to do so, the minority threatens, will see the commencement of a process to recall Parliament from recess, to have a parliamentary committee investigate “the missing GHȻ600 million from the consolidated fund”.
This follows an earlier demand from the minority to the government to explain what the money was used for.
According to the minority, the government has already made some expenses that it has not accounted for.
“The Minority in Parliament will like to call on the Akufo-Addo Administration to expeditiously account for a colossal sum of GH₵636 million already utilised on the Agenda 111 projects.
Even before the Auditor General will heed the call by the Minority, the Ministry in a statement explained that as stated in paragraph 400 of the mid-year review statement the project is expected to be implemented in two phases- Phase 1 pre-contract works and phase II construction and execution of project.
“In 2020 600million cedis was released to the health infrastructure account at Bank of Ghana to support implementation of the district and regional hospital project. This is equivalent to 100million US dollars as announced by the government and will be disbursed to contactors in accordance with the project work plan.
“The said amount had been released into the project account at the Bank of Ghana but not utilized yet. Project commencement has just begun. So far only 36 million Ghana cedis has been released part of pre-construction mobilisation.
“Following the commencement of the actual project execution as evident in the sod cutting ceremony of 17th August 2021 we expect to draw don various amo7nbts form the accounts which is to be managed by the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF)
“We wish to assure the general public that government is still committed to tackling Ghana health infrastructural deficit and restoring the country to a path of achieving economic and social transformation.
“In this regard we will ensure the use of local teams comprising of Ghana consultants, project managers and construction firms to execute the project and also ensure due process during procurement and disbursement.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana