Roads Ministry Rubbishes Minority’s Call For Abrogation Of Accra-Tema Motorway Contract
The Ministry of Roads and Highway wants Ghanaians to ignore calls by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus in Parliament for an abrogation of the Accra – Tema Motorway expansion contract.
According to the Ministry, the concerns raised by the caucus do not “represent the accurate status of the contract”.
The NDC Caucus had indicated that the $570 million Accra-Tema Motorway contract awarded to South African-based Portuguese company Mota-Engil serves the interest of the government officials hence, must be canceled to protect the public purse.
But in response, the Roads Ministry in a statement signed by the sector Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Attah explained that after failed attempts by the previous NDC Government in procuring the said works to other foreign contractors, the government undertook a transparent and competitive process between 2017 and 2020, using Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements to select the Contractor.
“The attention of the Ministry of Roads and Highways has been drawn to a Press conference by the NDC Caucus in Parliament during their Press Conference on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, calling for the abrogation of the Accra – Tema Motorway expansion Contract signed between the Government of Ghana and Mota-Engil Engenharia E Construcao Africa S.A. The Ministry wishes to state without equivocation that the assertions and conclusions made by the NDC caucus in Parliament do not represent the accurate status of the contract”, the statement indicated.
Explaining further, the Ministry defended the continuation of the project saying “the Accra-Tema Motorway has exceeded its design life since it was constructed in 1964. The scope of the project includes expansion of the lanes, new interchanges, and remodelling of the Tetteh Quashie interchange to remove traffic bottlenecks on the corridor for the benefits of road users.”
It thus requested all stakeholders to support the project that is expected to benefit the entire country.
NDC’s concerns
The NDC Spokesperson on Transport, Kwame Agbodza, had raised questions on the redesigning of the motorway and the sourcing of the company for the project.’
Mr. Abgodza said the Minority will be forced to call for a parliamentary probe into the contract if it is not canceled.
“This is another scheme like Ameri and other deals to create an opportunity to serve themselves and we in the NDC caucus will not allow it. If you push this we will call for a parliamentary probe into this.”
“We are asking the government to stop this process. It will take you about two extra months to do selective tendering and allow Ghanaian contractors to be able to participate in this so that we can have Ghanaian heroes in this. ”