Government’s plan to reconstruct the Accra International Conference Centre not scuttled by minority as claimed by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

The Honourable Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is in town with a claim that government’s plan to reconstruct the Accra International Conference Centre is in jeopardy because Parliament rejected the proposal.

He claimed, in a publication on his Facebook timeline that NDC MPs both at the Foreign Affairs Committee and plenary have effectively scuttled government’s 2023 plans to reconstruct the Accra International Conference Centre at a cost of €116 million (GHS1.3 billion).

Information I have gathered about this particular project is that the Ministry's plans to demolish and reconstruct the AICC is on course contrary to what Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa has put out there.

Having contacted the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong over the matter, I am more than convinced that the publication by the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee is completely false and misleading. The Minority side on the Committee of Foreign Affairs did not scuttle and could not have scuttled government’s plan to reconstruct AICC. The plan was not also scuttled at the plenary as the North Tongu Member of Parliament would want Ghanaians to believe.

It is important to emphasize that Parliament has approved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ budget estimates and allocation and also the outlook for 2023 which includes plans to demolish and rebuild the AICC after going through the legally required processes.

In June 2020, Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs which was then led by Hon. Frank Annoh Dompreh, Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, as Vice Chairman, Okudzeto Ablakwa as a Ranking Member, Hon. Okoh Vanderpuje as Deputy Ranking Member and the rest of the Committee Members visited and inspected the Accra International Conference Centre to familiarize themselves with the structural integrity challenges of the edifice.

Upon the inspection, the committee agreed with the advice and report of the Team of Engineers and Construction Professionals led by Ing. Mark Addo of the Ghana Institute of Engineers that the best option was to demolish the edifice and rebuild it.

The Engineering report stated that 30% of the concrete had peeled off and that if there was a severe buckle, the building would collapse, and, therefore, it was imperative that the building would be pulled down and rebuilt.

After the inspection, the Deputy Ranking Member, Okoh Vanderpuje who spoke at the time on behalf of the Committee agreed strongly with the engineer’s report and recommendations for the demolition and reconstruction of the building. Copies of the report were made available to every Committee Member including Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Okoh Vanderpuje.

At their recent deliberations on the 2023 budget estimates for the Ministry, the Committee once again agreed with the report and professional advice from the same team of Engineers and Construction Professionals that the best option still remains the demolition and rebuilding of the edifice. It is strange that today, the same Committee Members who took part in this exercise and agreed with the recommendations contained in the report are creating the impression that they have never come into contact with this very report.

The general public is, therefore, entreated to ignore the claim of Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as the facts as spelt out are not in sync with his position. AICC will be rebuilt per the arrangements with the investor, Suma Turizm Yatirimciligi A.S of Turkey since a delay in same may cause cataclysmic consequences to Ghanaians who patronize the edifice.

Government, thanks to Parliament, is going ahead with the demolition and reconstruction of the Accra International Conference Centre which was constructed in 1991.