Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
The Ministry of Finance has been instructed by the Public Accounts Committee to deliver the financial allocation to the Ministry of Works and Housing and its agencies, such as the Department of Rural Housing and the Ghana Hydrological Authority, so that they can finish projects that are unfinished that were initiated in 2019.
The order was given out on Thursday during the Public Accounts Committee meeting in Parliament.
According to the report, the Ministry of Works and Housing received releases totaling more than GH¢83 million. The Committee did observe, however, that the Ministry’s outstanding debts and obligations had increased and now total more than GH¢2 billion cedis.
The Committee found that the Ministry of Works and Housing’s budgetary allotment for the fiscal year 2023 was insufficient and insufficient to pay the outstanding obligations. The report also called attention to the Ministry’s deficiency in interim payment certificates and liquidation damages, and it urged the Minister of Finance to provide the Ministry with sufficient funding to finish the projects.
PAC believed that finishing these initiatives was crucial to saving lives and property since rain is inevitable in Accra and the city floods every time it does.
A further thirty projects have not begun, according to the Committee, and it was suggested that the contracts for those projects be terminated because there was no justification provided for their failure.
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Works and Housing, announced that they have consulted a lawyer on the kinds of contracts that are signed in order to ascertain whether rate reviews are permitted.
Certain contracts expressly exclude the possibility of rate reviews. Reviews of rates may be done when appropriate.
If they aren’t, the two parties might come to an amendment as an agreement after taking into account all the information, allowing the projects to move on as planned.
“Nobody gets one hundred percent of their allocation, and the revenue situation in the country is challenging. But we will try to get the rate review done and have the contractors back on site,” he stated.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
