GRi in Parliament
21 – 03 - 2003
Roads
in Brong Ahafo programmed
The roads include
the Aduakwa- Kwaku Panfo-Adieso feeder that links Greater Accra and Eastern
Region, Weija Junction - Weija
Township, Obuom - Amasaman
road through Kojo Ashong,
Ablekuma-Manhean-Obeyeyie Amasaman
feeder roads.
Dr Richard W,
Anane, Minister of Roads and Trnasport said this in Parliament
when Ernest Attuquaye Armah, NDC- Ga
South asked the Minister when the roads would be tarred.
Armah asked the
Minister when the tarring of the Aduakwa to Adeiso through Kwaku Panfo, Weija Junction to
Dr Anane said the
section from Aduakwa to Obuom
would be awarded for sectional regravelling by the
end of this year, and the surface dressing would commence after feasibility and
engineering studies and design have been completed.
The contract for
the surface dressing of the Weija Junction to the township
road was awarded last year and contract includes the access road to Ogblogo land fill site for solid waste disposal.
The Obuom Amasaman feeder road has a
high level of traffic and requires upgrading to enable it to carry the large
and heavy axle loads of trucks that win sand in the road corridor for construction
in Greater Accra region and the adjoining district in Central and Eastern
Regions.
Dr Anane, in
another answer said the water crossing point of the River Adieso
that separates Kofi Donkor and Odumansuaba
villages has been selected for the installation of a steel bridge under the
Spanish Bridges programme.
He said the design
studies for the installation of the bridge have just commenced and the contract
for the construction of the bridge would commence by the end of this year.
The Minister said
when Ernest Attuquaye Armah, NDC- Ga
South asked when the bridge between Kofi Donkor and Odumansuaba would be constructed to enable farmers in the
area to transport foodstuffs to the market centres.
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Roads
in Brong Ahafo programmed
The procurement
process would be completed by the end of May this year for works to start in
July this year. Dr Richard W. Anane, Minister of roads and Transport said this
when Alhaji Amadu Ali, NDC- Atebubu South asked when
the Atebubu township roads would be awarded for
tarring and when the Atebubu-Dromankese-Nkoranza road
would be upgraded and tarred.
The Minister said
the 95-kilometre Atebubu-Dromankese-Nkoranza road links
Nkoranza in Central Brong Ahafo Region to Atebubu and Kojokrom in the east
of the region. Dr Anane said under the 2003 routine maintenance programme,
grading, ditch cleaning and gravel patching activities are to be undertaken on
the road while engineering studies and design would be completed and award of contract
for commencement of works would be made in 2004.
In another
development, Dr. Anane said the estimated cost of constructing a bridge at Yeji would cost the country about 1.4 billion dollars. The
width of the crossing of the was one kilometre in 1965 but after completion of
the Volta Dam the lake expanded so that the crossing between Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region and Makango
in the Northern region extended to about 15 metres.
The Minister said
this high cost of constructing the bridge in the presence of the cheaper
alternative of ferrying between the two towns has made it uneconomic to construct
a bridge at the site for the present.
He said the
Ministry would in consultation with the Ministry of Energy provide more and
safer ferrying services while as a long term measure, consultations would be
considered for feasibility studies to assess the viability of constructing a
bridge at the crossing point to replace the ferry service.
Alhaji Ali asked
whether the ministry would consider increasing the number of pontoon on the
river and check the unreliable single pontoon and the Minister said District
Assemblies would be required to assist to acquire another pontoon and improve
ferry services.
Edward Saliah, NDC-Jirapa asked what
measures were being put in place to ensure safety on the
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 21 March 2003- Parliament on Thursday approved the annual budget
estimates of a number of Ministries but expressed concern that the amounts was
most significantly inadequate to meet their financial obligations and
functions.
It was therefore,
recommended that the total amounts allocated to the Ministries for the year
ending 2003 be approved by the House. These were contained in the recommendations
in the Reports of the Committee on Works and Housing and the Committee on
Youth, Sports and Culture in Motions for the approval of the budget estimates
presented to Parliament.
Sampson O. Darkoh, Chairman of the Committee on Works and Housing said
in the 2002 fiscal year, 623,180,755,240 cedis was approved to the Ministry to
meet its expenditure, however it was realised that the amount was cut down by
the Ministry of Finance due to inadequate donor inflow.
He said this
affected the general performance of the Ministry especially in the area of
investment and service activities and as such the Ministry has this year
designed its budgetary allocation alongside the Ghana Poverty Reduction
Strategy guidelines.
Darkoh said the aim is to provide and facilitate
the provision of the basic needs of people such as water and shelter and for
this purpose, a total budgetary allocation of
656,293,000,000.00 cedis has been allocated for the operations of the Ministry.
The Government is
funding a total of 59,635,000,000 while donor component constitutes
596,658,000,000 cedis to meet personnel emoluments, administration, service
activities and investment.
Darkoh said the Committee was of the view that if
the money was not released on time or there was a slash as happened last year,
much cannot be achieved by the Ministry though a lot was expected from it to
improve on the lives of Ghanaians.
The Committee
therefore, recommended that the Ministry of Finance should ensure a timely
release of the allocations to enable the Ministry to execute its projects as
scheduled.
The Ministry has a
number of important unfounded projects that have not been catered for in the
allocations to the Ministry by the Ministry of Finance, but are crucial that they
are undertaken to realise a meaningful achievement of the Minister's
objectives.
These unfunded
projects include the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project for which
Government was expected to contribute a counterpart fund of 38.7 billion cedis
this year, the Tamale Storm Water project and the Keta
Sea Defence Project.
The Committee said
it was strongly urging Government to take a very serious view of the situation
and honour its part of the agreement to save the people from untold hardship if
those projects are left uncompleted.
Darkoh said the Committee was informed that the
Ministry of Finance delayed in issuing out letters of commencement of projects
for the various Departments and agencies under the ministry,
hence projects were implemented late in the rainy season instead of the dry
season.
The Committee
further noted that there were other priority on-going projects that deserve
attention for immediate completion. These include rehabilitation of the Castle
phase three,
The others are
emergency flood control and construction of culverts, rehabilitation of UNDO
Flats and general rehabilitation of the Sekondi
-Takoradi - Inchaban and Weija
Dams Remedial Works.
The Committee
expressed concern about the inability of the Public Works Department,
Department of Rural Housing, Rent Control Department, Technical Services Centre
and Hydrological Services Department to be assisted to be play
their expected roles and to be pro-active.
Yaw Barimah, Minister of Works and Housing said if the Ministry
was allocated its budgetary demands it would go a long way in reducing poverty and
ensuring the efficient exception of services.
Samuel
Nkrumah-Gyimah, Chairman of the Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture said
38,472,000,000 has been allocated to the ministry and its affiliated bodies to
cover Personnel Emoluments, administration, Service and Investment expenses an
The Committee noted
that the shortfall of over six billion cedis to the Ministry adversely affected
the administrative Service and Investment expenses since Personnel Emoluments
had to be paid at all cost.
It said the delay
in release and in some cases non-release of approved funds by the Ministry of
Finance made last year very hectic but in spite of these, the Ministry
successfully undertook some projects and activities.
These included
continuation of work on the multi-purpose office complex at Kaneshie
to serve as the Headquarters of the National Youth Council, establishment of
three Youth Leadership Training Institutes and arrangement to obtain grant to
construct modern Youth centres in
Nkrumah-Gyimah said
others were
The Committee noted
that the Ministry, out of its internally generated fund contributed about 655
million cedis towards the rehabilitation's, construction and fencing of about
12 projects.
The Committee also
noted that cabinet has approved a 50 billion Youth Endowment Fund initiated by
the Ministry to assist the Youth to set up private enterprise. Nkrumah-Gyimah
said the Committee noted with regret the non-release of the allocations for the
National Sports Council, the National Youth Council and National Sports Council
and that has affected their performance.
Edward Osei-Kwaku, Minister of Youth and Sports said despite the inadequate
funding the Ministry has been able to chalk a number of successes. He called
for increased financial support not only for sports development but also,
especially for youth training in entrepreneurial skill acquisition.
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They contended that
even though the Ministry generates a lot of money through passport fees and
other consular activities, it hardly gets the needed resources to carry out its
mandate effectively.
Hackman
Owusu-Agyeman, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was defending the Ministry's budget
which stood at 322 billion cedis. Kofi Attor, NDC-Ho
Central and Ranking member, said:"Somebody is not
taking the Ministry serious. The Budget statement did not have even one sentence
on the Ministry, its 43 mission abroad are all struggling."
He said the
ministry should be empowered to keep part of its internally generated revenue. "Even
though it generated 5.5 million dollars in 2002, not even a cent of that money
was retained for crucial projects and programmes."
Alhaji Abukari Sumani,NDC-Choggu/Tishigu,
said most people see the Ministry as a waste pipe hence its woes. "We
should not forget that whatever we receive as grants, loans or gifts from
abroad is initiated and received through the Ministry."
He asked that the
Ministry's budgetary proposals be done in the dollar index so that people would
appreciate the "load it carries" Later in the day the House approved
the budgetary proposals of the Ministry of Roads and Highways which stood at
944,486 million cedis. It also approved 1.679 billion cedis for the Ministry of
Parliamentary Affairs to run on for the year.
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