Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday, June 12, 2015
The controversy
surrounding the Conti loan that would have financed the implementation of what
the government calls ‘an elaborate drainage system’ in the Accra Metropolis refuses
to go away.
The issue was resurrected
following last Wednesday, June 3 devastating floods cum fire outbreak that
killed about 200 people in Accra.
Parliament approved a
United States EXIM Bank loan of $600 million with Conti as the contractor but
over two years after the sod cutting for the project to begin nothing is on the
ground to show for the Accra sewage and drainage project leaving residents to
the dictates of the weather.
Terkper’s Defense
Since the disaster, Finance
Minister Seth Terkper has been defending his stance that the cash is still not
ready and accused the Accra Metropolitan Assembly of pushing to go to
Parliament to get Conti to commence the project before the processes towards
securing the loan could be completed.
The Accra
Metropolitan Chief Executive Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije is reported to have said
on Rainbow Radio last Thursday that the
disaster could partly be blamed on the Finance Ministry because they (ministry)
refused to release funds for the projects.
He said the ministry
was delaying in approving about $500 million to dredge the Odaw River which is
the epicenter of the floods.
Mr. Terkper however, fought
back and was quoted by state-owned Ghanaian
Times as saying that “There is no fund yet in an account to be disbursed,
as is being portrayed. Parliament approved a US loan with Conti as the
contractor requiring a guarantee because the AMA cannot borrow on its own
budget.”
He reportedly said
the AMA needed to complete the works contract as the basis for the Finance
Agreement saying “While these were being done, the scope of works was changed
to avoid the conventional dredging but causing further delay.”
Ongoing Process
He said “These
processes are still ongoing so there are no funds yet to disburse,” adding “It
is only when the loan application is completed and approved that US EXIM will
disburse, upon certification of stages of work done. They won’t put the entire
loan in an account, again as is being portrayed.”
The Conti contract is
a five-year project expected to be conducted in three different stages including
desiliting and dredging of the Odaw River starting from the Korle Lagoon where
there is the Ecological Restoration Project, construction of an engineered
sanitary landfill site for garbage recycling as well as 50 public toilet facilities and a Waste Water
Treatment Plant (WWTP).
Mills’ Assent
In March 2012, the
NDC government through President John Evan Atta Mills who was on a state visit
to the United States signed MoUs with American companies namely: CONTI Group
and General Electric to redesign Accra’s sewerage system and rehabilitate the
western rail lines respectively.
Later in January
2013, President John Mahama who had succeeded the late President Mills cut the
sod for work to begin on the project that the government said was expected to
provide lasting solutions to Accra's perennial flooding and waste management
challenges.
Three Ministers
A document of October
2012 sighted by indicated that there was a joint MoU signed by the Ministers of
Local Government and Rural Development (Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo), Water Resources,
Works and Housing (E.T. Mensah) and Finance and Economic Planning (Dr. Kwabena
Duffuor) on the EXIM Bank loan.
The MoU was
specifically titled: “Two credit agreements between the Republic of Ghana and
Export Import Bank of United States of America and Standard Chartered Bank for
a total amount of $663,299,496.00” and it was for the construction of the Accra
Sanitary Sewer and Storm Drainage Alleviation Works Project.
The MoU said “In view
of the benefits to be derived from the implementation of the Accra Sanitary
Sewer and Storm Drainage Alleviation Works project particularly in health
improvement, infrastructural development, business growth, ecological
restoration of the Korle Lagoon and achievement of Ghana’s Millennium
Development Goals, Parliament is respectfully requested to consider and approve
the credit agreement.”
Mahama’s Sod-Cutting
At the sod-cutting
ceremony, the government had said the five-year, $663,299,496 Accra Sanitary
Sewer and Storm water Drainage Alleviation Project fell under two main
components.
Speaking at the
function, President Mahama had said the project would “revolutionise” the
sanitation and sewage situation in Accra and end the perennial flooding of the
city.
He had said if the
project was successful, it would be replicated in the other regions of the
country and urged the public to desist
from dumping refuse into open drains and building in water courses, since those
practices resulted in flooding in the cities.
Over two years after
the fanfare sod cutting the project is yet to take off, with a devastating
flood to follow last week.
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