Raising money to complete previous govts projects 'difficult' – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has admitted that even though the government is keen on carrying out and continuing with major projects across the country by the previous government – where to get the funds has been extremely difficult.

According to him, the affordable housing project which was started during the ex-President John Agyekum Kufour era and left unattended to by the Mahama-led government is “worrying” – after assuring that the incumbent plans to "revisit" it.

The practice of abandoning started projects whenever a new government takes over office has been viewed as a major threat to the country's development agenda.

As a result, fears were expressed that the current government, having outlined its own development program for the country, will abandon infrastructural projects commenced by the erstwhile John Mahama administration.

Available records indicate that an estimated GHC 21million oil revenue spent on some school projects remain largely uncompleted and abandoned. In the Ashanti Region, a teaching hospital administration block, a project to address a large number of admissions into the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Medical Sciences, has been abandoned after eight years.

Other major ones include the 60-bed capacity ultra-modern Bank of Ghana Hospital which was completed in 2017, but has been left to rot after two of completion. The facility, located at Cantonments in Accra, was part of a GHC445.8 million capital expenditure commitments of the bank to major projects including the construction of a data center and its guest house.

The Euroget 6 District Hospitals project with a 60-bed capacity - Tepa, Nsawkaw, Konongo, Madina, Salaga and Twifo Praso - which cost $339 million, have also all been abandoned.

Asked by host of PEACE FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Kwami Sefa Kayi if the government faces challenges in acquiring funds for such projects – the soft-spoken minister was quick to say “oh yes it's difficult, it's difficult but we [NPP] has done our best.”