Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta
The Ministry of Roads and Highways has denied allegations that it has breached the requirement for parliamentary approval for the Accra-Tema Motorway Extension Project.
This is in direct response to an interview granted by the ranking member of roads and transport committee of Parliament, Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza, to the media in which he called for the immediate abrogation of the contract awarded to Mota-Engil Engenharia E Construcao Africa S.A. because, according to him, it has not received parliamentary approval.
Mr Agbodza alleged that Mota-Engil is not qualified to undertake the project on Design and Build basis.
He asserted that Ghanaians are capable of executing the project, hence the contract must be immediately cancelled and repackaged for local contractors.
But the Ministry of Roads and Highways, in a statement, said the assertions and conclusions made by the Adaklu MP are “inaccurate and misleading.”
The ministry noted that it has not, in any way, breached the requirement for parliamentary approval for the Accra-Tema Motorway Extension Project and, therefore, the full content of Mr Agbodza’s press conference should be totally disregarded and ignored.
The statement, signed by Nasir Ahmad Yartey, Head, Public Relations, explained: “The Ministry for Roads and Highways signed a commercial contract with Mota-Engil in December 2020. This Commercial Contract as a standalone cannot be sent to Parliament without the complement of a Financial Agreement. As of now, the Financing arrangements are yet to be concluded. It is, therefore, premature for anybody to claim or suggest that we have breached the law, when the documents to be submitted to Parliament have not been finalised.”
“The signing of a Commercial Contract for internationally funded projects with conditions precedent before its submission to Parliament is not unusual,” it added.
Giving similar examples, the statement noted that “On the La Beach Road Completion Project, the commercial contract was signed in September 2012 with similar conditions precedent. The Cabinet and Parliamentary approvals were secured in November and December 2018 respectively and the contract became effective in 2019.”
“Again, on the Accra Intelligent Traffic Management Systems Project, the commercial contract was also signed in September 2012 with similar conditions precedent. The Cabinet and Parliamentary Approvals were secured in November and December 2018 respectively and the contract became effective in 2019.”
The Ministry of Roads and Highways said it as an active promoter of local content and that for the Accra Tema Motorway Extension Project, 40 per cent of all works have been reserved for local contractors. “However, we state for the avoidance of doubt that when the competitive bidding process was launched in December 2018, 23 companies expressed interest. None was Ghanaian. It is, therefore, not accurate to give the impression that Ghanaian companies were excluded.”
The statement noted that it is simplistic and ignorant for anybody to do a simple calculation of cost over kilometres and conclude that the cost of the Accra Tema Motorway Extension Project is over-bloated without recourse to the actual scope and works involved in the project.
The scope of work of the project the ministry gave as follows:
10 – lane 19.5km motorway (4 lanes of the reinforced concrete freeway, 6 lanes of Urban Highway), Reconstruction of Tetteh Quarshie to Apenkwa (5.7 km), Remodelling of Tetteh Quarshie, Apenkwa and Achimota Interchanges, Construction of five new Interchanges (Lashibi, Abattoir, Teshie Link, Fiesta Royale and Neoplan junction), 14No. Pedestrian Footbridges, Toll Plazas and Streetlights.
The Ministry of Roads and Highways said it is working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and all other relevant stakeholders to ensure that no mandate is sidestepped and to obtain value for money in the interest of the nation.
“The accusations levelled against the Ministry are frivolous, groundless and amounts to palpable falsehood,” the statement said.
The Ministry reiterated that it has not breached the constitutional requirement for parliamentary approval for the Accra-Tema Motorway Extension Project adding “parliamentary approval for international business transactions that have a funding component are only requested after the full compliments of the commercial and financial agreement have been signed. Both agreements are yet to be secured by the Ministry. The Ministry is therefore yet to reach a point where parliamentary approval is required.”