The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George has dared the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to prosecute National Democratic Congress (NDC) officials if indeed there was overpricing in the construction of the Kwame Nkrumah Circle interchange.
Dr Bawumia says the NPP administration was able to build four interchanges for less money than the NDC that built only one for a higher cost.
He alleged that the NDC bloated the cost but Sam George has hit out at Dr Bawumia and says the government should proceed to prosecute NDC officials if they indeed believe there was overpricing.
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He said the government’s failure to prosecute anyone for the alleged overpricing of the interchange proves that the former’s assertion was false.
“I listened to Bawumia and I realised that he made a pedestrian argument where he compared the cost of one interchange to four interchanges. Let us agree for the purpose of this conversation that the interchange at the Kwame Nkrumah circle was overpriced. If he says it was overpriced, this government has been in power for three years and eight months. Why has he not prosecuted anyone for causing financial loss to the state? Again, we want to ask the question, how come the contractor who has executed the project is currently executing another project under this government?â€
The Vice President, who made the presentation at the meeting said 17,334 infrastructural projects were initiated by the Akufo-Addo government in various parts of the country.
The MP on Eyewitness, however, said most of the projects cited by the Vice President were either private initiatives or the previous government’s uncompleted projects.
“I have done some work on the website and if you look at the projects listed there, I can say the Vice President has shown dishonesty and it is something that is unbecoming of anyone who holds such a high office. There was a plethora of either private initiatives or government work that had preceded this government being cited as government projects.â€
Prior to the 2016 elections, John Dramani Mahama commissioned a redesigned Kwame Nkrumah Circle interchange to ease the heavy vehicular traffic in the capital.
Dubbed ‘Dubai Interchange’, the three-tier interchange included a 1.2km flyover from the then Busy Internet end of the Ring Road to the Awudome Cemetery, near the Obetsebi-Lamptey Roundabout with street lights.
The phase one of the project cost €74 million whilst phase two was at US$170 million.
In 2019, however, President Akufo-Addo-led NPP government commissioned the redevelopment of the Obetsebi Lamptey Circle into an interchange at a reported $39 million for phase one and $100 million for phase two.
The $39 million of the project is a loan from a British bank, HSBC, which was secured under the previous administration and approved by Parliament in August 2016.
A one-kilometre interchange in Northern regional capital is the first-ever in the Northern Region. This is being constructed from the projects funded through the $2 billion Government of Ghana-Sinohydro Master Project Support Agreement but Government indicated that it will cost $35 million.
There is also the much talked about $65 million Pokuase Interchange project in the Ga West Municipality in the Greater Accra Region.
This Interchange project comprises a four-tier interchange. The Pokuase interchange is 5-kilometre, Awoshie-Pokuase Road is 2-kilometre, Accra-Nsawam Road is also two-kilometre and the Kwabenya road.