MIDA asks undisciplined traders on Apenkwa-Mallam corridor to move

Accra, Feb. 15, GNA - Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, Chief Executive Offic= er of the Millennium Development Authority (MIDA), on Tuesday said activities of traders on the Apenkwa-Mallam corridor were slowing progress on the N1 Highway project and asked them to move for work to proceed. He said to date MIDA had negotiated with and compensated over 11,000 project-affected persons for buildings and structures and stressed that their continuous stay on the corridor was just an act of indiscipline. Mr Eson-Benjamin, giving his situation report at the meet-the-press series in Accra, said MIDA had since disbursed 11 million dollars for resettlement and compensation.

He said MIDA had one year to end its five-year mandate and 93we need to finish all projects before February 15, 2012 to qualify Ghana for the next tranche in 2013." "We in MIDA can only appeal to peoples' conscience to move from th= at place to allow work to progress speedily and if they refuse and work stands still, our development partners, in this case the United States of America, will not bring the money and we as a country will lose," Mr Eson-Benjamin= .. "MIDA only represents the Government of Ghana and we have other agencies and departments whose duty it is to ensure that those still tradin= g on that corridor move off to pave way for the contractor to finish his work."

"We can only appeal to them to see if conscience will prick them to do the right thing for the benefit of all," he added. Mr Eson-Benjamin said at the end of January this year, MIDA had committed 490 million dollars of Compact funds and disbursed 275 million dollars, representing 90 per cent and 50 per cent of the Compact Budget respectively. He said MDA had received promptly from Millennium Challenge Corporatio= n (MCC) its quarterly requests for funds for the projects. "While the funds are released directly from the US Treasury, it must= be noted that MIDA uses only the Bank of Ghana for her financial operations.= " The CEO said the five-year programme, reviewed in 2008 and in 2009, wa= s on course and all major contracts had been awarded for execution. "It is our expectation that the programme budget will be fully exhausted within the five-year period as there will be no time extension after February 15, 2012," he said. "For this reason, MIDA's only plea is that all contractors who hav= e been engaged on the projects will work diligently in the 12 months ahead of us, to meet their contractual obligations," Mr Eson-Benjamin said. The Millennium Account Programme, funded by the US, is an innovative business model in terms of the delivery of foreign aid.