The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority Caucus in Parliament has denied claims by the government that a total of US$85 million remained outstanding to the contractor working on the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region.
According to the caucus, the outstanding amount owed the contractor working on the project was US$ 500,000, and not US$85million as stated by the government.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament yesterday, the Deputy Ranking member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Mr Kofi Amankwa-Manu, said records of both the Ministries of Finance and Defence did not support the claim.
He explained that the overall completion rate of the project as of January last year stood at 98 per cent.
“The narrative being peddled that the 500-bed facility is only 60 per cent complete, is a complete fabrication designed to justify an outrageous financial demand. Official records from the Project Implementation Unit of which I was the Chair of the Ministry of Defence confirm that as of September 2024, the core hospital was 92.5 per cent complete,” he said.
“By January 2025, under the previous administration of the NPP, the overall completion rate stood at an impressive 98 per cent,” he added.
Providing a breakdown of the completion rate of the project, Mr Amankwa-Manu stated that civil works and core hospital, architectural works, support facilities and staff housing, roads, and landscaping works, were 97.5 per cent, 87 per cent, 77 per cent, 80 per cent and 77 per cent complete as of September 2024.
Furthermore, he noted that both the original contract term of US$180 million and the negotiated additional funding of US$19.3 million due to the delay of the completion of the project had been paid.
“Out of a subsequent US$3 million claim negotiated from over US$ 6.5 million, US$ 2.5 million has been paid. To jump from an outstanding balance of US$ 500,000 to a sudden demand for US$ 85 million is not just mathematical, it is indeed criminal,” Mr Amankwa-Manu added.
He alleged that the relocation of the project by the NDC government caused its delay for six years and resulted in the contractor claiming an additional US$36 million, which was eventually negotiated down to US$19.3 million.
Mr Amankwa-Manu called on the government to ensure that the remaining two per cent of the project was completed to serve its intended purpose.
It would be recalled that security personnel at the hospital recently turned away the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie and a delegation of Ashanti Region MPs during a visit to the project site.
During the stand-off, the MPs argued that they were there to assess progress on the project, but the soldiers maintained that entry into restricted areas required clearance.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
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