That is why we are paying too much for this project

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KB, SWEDEN 11 years ago

Are the 700 Americans going to be paid from the loans that we Ghanaians are going to pay back? If so, does it mean we don't have 700 Ghanaians with the know how to do this job?

Are the 700 Americans going to be paid from the loans that we Ghanaians are going to pay back? If so, does it mean we don't have 700 Ghanaians with the know how to do this job?
Ghana 11 years ago

Whoever signed this contract ought to be hanged.

Whoever signed this contract ought to be hanged.
AKWELE 11 years ago

Those millions of dollars could be stretched to build other health care facilities in other regions so the average Ghanaian could benefit from them. We do not have that much to be wasting.

Those millions of dollars could be stretched to build other health care facilities in other regions so the average Ghanaian could benefit from them. We do not have that much to be wasting.
Joe Turkey 11 years ago

Any wonder Vicky Hammah was quoting her expected loot in dollars? She was only speaking for the NDC - Jerry Rawlings' NDC

Any wonder Vicky Hammah was quoting her expected loot in dollars? She was only speaking for the NDC - Jerry Rawlings' NDC
Sedinam Agbemavah, 11 years ago

Ghana is for sale to the highest bidder.

Ghana is for sale to the highest bidder.
Concerned 11 years ago

Health minister must have taken bribe or she is not of sound mind

Health minister must have taken bribe or she is not of sound mind
Mahamah 11 years ago

THIS ARE SOME OF THEIR TRICKS. THE WAY NDC WANT TO STEAL MONEY FOR THEIR 2016 CAMPAIGN. THIS DUBIOUS DEAL SHOULD NOT BE APPROVED BY THE MINORITY ATALL.CREATE LOOT AND SHARE PARTY.BIG AHAME UNTO JOHN MAHAMA AND HIS WICKED PART ...
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THIS ARE SOME OF THEIR TRICKS. THE WAY NDC WANT TO STEAL MONEY FOR THEIR 2016 CAMPAIGN. THIS DUBIOUS DEAL SHOULD NOT BE APPROVED BY THE MINORITY ATALL.CREATE LOOT AND SHARE PARTY.BIG AHAME UNTO JOHN MAHAMA AND HIS WICKED PARTY NDC.NOW CEMENT IS 280 THOUSAND CEDIS A BAG WHY .
OKOE 11 years ago

GHANA PARLIAMENTARIANS, ARE YOU READING THIS ARTICLE? IF YOU DID NOT OR WILL NOT, DO NOT COME BACK TO ABROGATE THE CONTRACT AND USE THE OLD SONG TO READ PARLIAMENT DID NOT APPROVE OF THIS CONTRACT THEREFORE IT WOULD BE NULL ...
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GHANA PARLIAMENTARIANS, ARE YOU READING THIS ARTICLE? IF YOU DID NOT OR WILL NOT, DO NOT COME BACK TO ABROGATE THE CONTRACT AND USE THE OLD SONG TO READ PARLIAMENT DID NOT APPROVE OF THIS CONTRACT THEREFORE IT WOULD BE NULL AND VOID. IT IS THEN THAT JUDGEMENT DEBT WILL KICK IN!!
Kma 11 years ago

Stop your moronic rubbish. Get your information correct before you say rubbish. You even mentioned once $10m for 1000 bed hospital in Nigeria you are the thick of the thick .i hope someone finds you and sues for creating misi ...
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Stop your moronic rubbish. Get your information correct before you say rubbish. You even mentioned once $10m for 1000 bed hospital in Nigeria you are the thick of the thick .i hope someone finds you and sues for creating misinformation and potentially loss to the nation. Please sign in this article that you will never ever nor your family utilise this hospital if you think it is so bad

The Ministry of Health has rubbished reports of alleged bloating of a contract price for the re-construction and up-grading of the Ridge Hospital in Accra.

The Minority in Parliament, a couple of weeks ago, raised concerns about the cost of the project and subsequently vowed to halt what they term as the “fraudulent” $306 million project.

According to them, the deal was approved on their blindside, adding that it is damaging to the national interest and must not be allowed to proceed. The group also estimated that Ghana will lose $85 million if the $306 million deal goes ahead.

Pressure group, Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), which is also pushing for a thorough investigation into the alleged shady deal insists that, the contract has been overpriced by $142 million.

But the Ministry in a release on Tuesday stated; “there is no evidence whatsoever to justify that the contract price has been bloated and that it is the most expensive hospital in the world.”

The Greater Accra Regional Hospital is conceived as an ultra-modern hospital with 620 in-patient and intensive care and day care beds providing health care services in medical and surgical specialties and sub-specialties.

“Cabinet at its 36th meeting held on Thursday, 2nd August, 2012 granted approval for the two Credit Agreements between Government of Ghana and Export-Import Bank of United States for an amount of US$157,500,000.00 and HSBC Bank for an amount of US$92,500,000.OO respectively…We wish to state that this project has really gone through all the necessary statutory approvals and laid down procedures for procuring single source projects,” the document partly read.

The full content of the document is reproduced below:

Position Paper On The Major Rehabilation And Upgrade Of The Greater Accra Regional Hospital At Ridge, Accra As At 8th April, 2014.

The re-construction of Ridge hospital is in line with Government of Ghana's quest to provide every Region in Ghana with an ultra-modern secondary level referral Regional Hospital.

Messrs Bouygues Batiment International (BBI) submitted a proposal for the major Rehabilitation and Upgrade of Ridge Hospital to Greater Accra Regional Hospital through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on 7th June, 2011 after the Attorney General's advice on the terms and conditions of the said MOU on 24th May, 2011.

The MOU clearly indicated a 629Bed Regional Hospital.

A stakeholder meeting was subsequently held to discuss the proposed design by BBI on 1st September, 2011. Following this meeting, the Contractors were then requested to submit financial terms sheet and conditions of their offer to Ministry of Finance for their acceptability of the financial terms. The Ministry of Finance on 31st January, 2012 officially wrote to inform the Ministry of Health to proceed with other processes leading to the realization of the project.

A joint Cabinet Memo was then initiated after receipt of a draft Terms and Conditions of the loan agreement from HSBC Bank of London and United States Exim Bank. The Ministry of Health then sent a joint Cabinet Memo to Cabinet on 17th May, 2012.

Cabinet at its 36th meeting held on Thursday, 2nd August, 2012 granted approval for the two Credit Agreements between Government of Ghana and Export-Import Bank of United States for an amount of US$157,500,000.00 and HSBC Bank for an amount of US$92,500,000.OO respectively.

Subsequent to the Cabinet approval, a joint Parliamentary Memo was also sent to Parliament for approval. Parliament at its 57th Sitting held on Thursday, 16th August, 2012 also approved by Resolution the two Credit Agreements between Government of Ghana and USA Exim Bank and HSBC Bank respectively. The approvals were communicated in two separate letters from parliament to the Ministry of Health on 1ih August, 2012.

The Ministry of Health at this point wrote to the Public Procurement Authority to request for their approval to sale source Messrs BBI and got the approval on 13th December, 2012. Single Source Procurement was used to fulfill the terms and conditions in the Financial Agreements.

The Ministry of Health after reviewing all the designs and the proposed contract documents submitted by the Contractor, officially forwarded the documents including the designs to Ministry of Finance for Value-for-Money assessment and negotiations thereof on is" December, 2012.

Crown Agents released their first report on the Value for Money Assessment in July, 2013. The report largely requested for some clarifications to which MOH and the Contractor responded. The final Report was then released on 15th" September 2013. A GOG team meeting was held on 30th September to discuss the report submitted by Crown Agents and to agree on points for negotiations with the Contractors.

Project Components

The Greater Accra Regional Hospital is conceived as an ultra-modern hospital with 620 in-patient and intensive care and day care beds providing health care services in medical and surgical specialties and sub-specialties.

The proposed project shall be a compact medium rise building and associated electromechanical installations comprises construction of a second level hospital with teaching and ancillary facilities. The key departments include the following:

1. Surgery

2. Radiology (MRI, CT Scan, X-Ray, ECG and Ultrasound)

3. Internal Medicine

4. Pharmacy

5. Maternal and Pediatric care

6. Accident Emergency

7. Ear, Nose and Throat

8. Ophthalmology

9. Dermatology

10. Physiotherapy

11. Dentistry

12. Urology

13. Cardiology

14. Laboratory

15. Anesthesia

16. Teaching

17. Administration and support Services Comprising Catering, stores CSSD, Transport, Laundry, Maintenance and Mortuary

18. Medical Gas systems

19. Sewerage Treatment Plant

20. Landscaping

21. Roads

22. 500 Parking areas

23. Drainage

24. Transformers to support Electricity Supply and Back-up Power Generators

25. Telephone

26. Internet connectivity

27. Supply and Installation of Medical and Non-medical Equipment

28. 84 Staff Housing Accommodation for medical officers, nurses, technicians, overnight and emergency staff.

The Contractor responded to the above requirements to cost about USD$306,000,000 but due to Ministry of Finance's credit limit on borrowing in 2012, Government could only borrow an amount of USD$ 250,000,000.

On the basis of the limitation in government's capacity to borrow, the Contractor was requested to submit a proposal tailored to the reduced budget. It was therefore agreed with the Contractor to implement the project in stages hence the two phases.

It should be emphasized however, that, the design has been done for a 620 bed to encompass all the requirements above for which all the technical support services are enshrined in phase 1.

A design proposals and cost for a 620 bed hospital to be implemented in two phases -but allowing the first phase to be fully functioning even if phase 2 was not built- was therefore forwarded to Ministry of Finance for Value for money assessment as a single-source turnkey arrangement based on the FIDIC EPC.

Conditions of Contract Yellow Book 1999. .

Messrs Crown Agents issued their first report in July, 2013. The report sought for some clarifications on the Contractor's proposals to which MOH and the Contractor responded. Some of the clarifications are the following;

1. Clarifications on BOQ

2. Floor areas disparities

3. Phasing

4. Technical specifications (architectural engineering, electro-mechanical)

5. Medical equipment and training requirements

As part of the processes it is a procedure to have the negotiations moderated by the body that issues the VFM report. A Government of Ghana team comprising of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health therefore met to review the final VFM report from Crown Agents on 30th September, 2013.

Crown Agents moderated the meeting under the chairmanship of Ministry of Finance. The GOG team agreed on the points for negotiations to meet with the contractor on 2nd October, 2013.

The major issue that was negotiated upon, was the pricing. The contractor justified their offer by indicating that they were not over-priced by $142M as has been indicated in the report. After extensive negotiations and justification by the contractor, Crown Agents were still of the opinion that the project cost could still be reduced by $88,254,720.

The issues and reasons for which CAGL stripped the unit cost of BBI from an estimated $6757/m2 to the EFMP of $3000/m2 was then the focus of the negotiations.

Subsequently, BBI in their analysis put forward further justifications which are specific to the Ridge Hospital project and which justify the contractor’s pricing.

The estimated Fair Market Price by Crown Agents was considered unreasonable and under estimated for the kind of hospital and Employer’s specifications under consideration.

In comparison to the recently procured Legon hospital, the Contractor further emphasized that the total 54, 144m2 of the Ridge Hospital project are entirely developed and fitted out and that neither 'Shell & Core only' areas provided for future spaces is considered under the Ridge Hospital space programme.

After a detailed discussion, the Parties agreed as follows:

• That some of the considerations for additional prices cannot be fully justified. This is in reference to an additional 10% assigned to the cost of providing full turnkey solution and exhaustive FFE provisions. A package that is taken into account of the Legon unit cost as well. On the basis of the BBI’s price breakdown provided in table of appendix C, the employer should pursue a discount.

• That the BBI estimated adjusted EFMP is $5637m/ for construction of both phases 1 and 2

Further negotiation on Price resulted in the following:

The Contractor agreed to accommodate the following items as part of their project cost.

• BBI considers that there will be additional costs in insurance, transportation of materials and equipment due to the source of supply.

• BBI agreed to provide funding to support the employer's Project Management Organisation (PMO).

• Provision shall be made for both user and technical consumables for one. Year under the medical equipment package.

• Double the number of staff housing units

• Provide 3 years maintenance program on major items

The meeting then requested for the price breakdown of all additional items to which BBI obliged. The final offer from BBI came to 9% ($27,085,715) which when further broken down comes to 8% ($17,812,195) savings on Phase 1 and 10% ($9,273,520) discount on Phase 2.

Conclusion

We wish to state that this project has really gone through all the necessary statutory approvals and laid down procedures for procuring single source projects.

The final report of Crown Agents advising on value for Money made some recommendations, which have been fully implemented, and these formed part of the submissions to parliament in February 2014.

It must also be indicated that the project is not refurbishment but a fully functional ultra-modern new and purpose-built hospital to be built on an occupied site.

There is no evidence whatsoever to justify that the Contract price has been bloated and that it is the most expensive hospital in the world. Indeed the rates are comparable to similar sized hospitals with similar specifications internationally.

There is therefore no risk to the taxpayer. The realization of this project will therefore enhance secondary and tertiary level health care delivery in Ghana and also reduce huge sums of money spent on medical treatment abroad.

Ministry of Health
Concerned citizen 11 years ago

That is full of crap if you believe that nonsense. We were told this project was a refurbishment of Ridge hospital. Now it has turned into a new hospital.

The inconsistencies of the ministry is a source of worry. This proj ...
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That is full of crap if you believe that nonsense. We were told this project was a refurbishment of Ridge hospital. Now it has turned into a new hospital.

The inconsistencies of the ministry is a source of worry. This project was presented with 420 beds, now it is a 629 beds and it is not Ridge hospital anymore but Greater Accra Regional hospital at a new site.

Is the government telling us we don't have experts we have to create seven hundred jobs for Americans at our cost at such a high price?

Wofa Yaw 11 years ago

Full of crap to confuse Ghanaians. Why didn't the Ministry of health tell Ghanaians it was going to build new hospital?

At least you should appreciate people like this Author for forcing the government to be transparent wi ...
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Full of crap to confuse Ghanaians. Why didn't the Ministry of health tell Ghanaians it was going to build new hospital?

At least you should appreciate people like this Author for forcing the government to be transparent with Ghanaians. Now we have on record what has been promised. If they fail to deliver what they promised, we will hold themaaccountable.
Koam 11 years ago

This is a cover up lie. the Greater Accra Regional hospital is to be sited on the Tema Motorway and not Ridge. The ridge on is just refurbishment. Blatant lies. anyway just cross check what is also going into Dangote 1000 bed ...
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This is a cover up lie. the Greater Accra Regional hospital is to be sited on the Tema Motorway and not Ridge. The ridge on is just refurbishment. Blatant lies. anyway just cross check what is also going into Dangote 1000 bed capacity hospital and see for yourself if we are getting our monies worth. Liars. God will punish you people for the needless death in our hospitals
KKO 11 years ago

The 1967 Ghana-Abbott Agreement all over! The problem with these stinky neo-colonialist agreements is that the people who negotiate them and screw Ghana badly for whatever reason, usually get away with their idiocy and crimin ...
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The 1967 Ghana-Abbott Agreement all over! The problem with these stinky neo-colonialist agreements is that the people who negotiate them and screw Ghana badly for whatever reason, usually get away with their idiocy and criminality.

What sort of labur services will Americans provide at a building site at Ridge, mixing cement or carrying it in wheel barrows up ramps? Is it the electrical wiring or plumbing? How about brick laying? How have the Ghanaian estate developers been providing these services since State Housing Corporation and SCC were robbed into a coma?

Just imagine the number of jobs that can be created in the Ghanaian building industry with the equivalent of 700 jobs in Amarica?

By the way, where do the hospitals in Ghana source their equipment? Do they come from Europe with which we have similar voltage and power cycle arrangements or do they come from North America where transformers are required?

For goodness sake, this is the 21st century! We cannot continue to depend on the whiteman for everything? What sort of people are ruling our country?
Kofi 11 years ago

Before Justice Sarpong concludes that the contract is a bad one, is he able to spell out which goods and services are being supplied by the contractor; and whether those goods and services could be procured locally? Secondly, ...
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Before Justice Sarpong concludes that the contract is a bad one, is he able to spell out which goods and services are being supplied by the contractor; and whether those goods and services could be procured locally? Secondly, this deal sounds/looks a tied loan where the goods and services must be obtained from the lender's country. Does the analysis establish that fact? Finally, Mr. Sarpong mentions 700 jobs to be created by this contract in the US. How about the jobs that will be created for Ghanaians locally? No mention is made of that. It is as if this contract will employ only Americans? Mr. Sarpong needs to do more analysis for his conclusions to be credible (unless this is one of the politically-driven pieces we have to contend with on this platform?). Thanks.
KWAKU 11 years ago

Kofi, take time to compare the Ridge and Tamale hospitals. They are almost identical in facilities and amenities. How come the Ridge hospital costs about three times the cost of the Tamale hospital. Let's leave politics as ...
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Kofi, take time to compare the Ridge and Tamale hospitals. They are almost identical in facilities and amenities. How come the Ridge hospital costs about three times the cost of the Tamale hospital. Let's leave politics aside and think of Ghana. There are other projects to compare the Ridge project to, and every assessment suggests that this Ridge project is bloated by three - ten times, depending on what the health ministry reports at a particular time.

Why should Ghana pay for the employment of 700 American for three years? Let me give you some perspective here. The Holiday Inn in Accra is valued at $24 million. Hotel Kuffour was sold for $6 million. Those involved in the contract were either ignorant or, simply, criminal. and none of them are excusable.
Kma 11 years ago

Suggest you get in a able and look at the hospital there are two big boards quite clearly show the big new hospital design. Plus one article advised will give employment to 1,200 Ghanaians . Exim loans are very very cheap but ...
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Suggest you get in a able and look at the hospital there are two big boards quite clearly show the big new hospital design. Plus one article advised will give employment to 1,200 Ghanaians . Exim loans are very very cheap but have % of things you must buy from the loan country but the rest can come from Ghana if we have it. So get your facts right and stop looking at child porn in Texas cleaning your gun and live in Ghana and pay tax for our country instead of wasting everyone's time. Noticed you even stick your face into politics in Nigeria you are not well.
007 11 years ago

You really sound like a typical Ghanaian local illiterate. Your view of world in general is limited because you have not been open to other cultures.

You really sound like a typical Ghanaian local illiterate. Your view of world in general is limited because you have not been open to other cultures.
Apenkwah 11 years ago

IT IS NOT TRUE, THE MONEY WAS TOO MUCH, ROAD MONEY IS HUGE MORE THAN BUILDING FOR THAT MATTER, SO THIS VERY MONEY IS TOO MUCH, THE MINISTER AS GOT HIS SHEAR, WE KNOW THAT.

IT IS NOT TRUE, THE MONEY WAS TOO MUCH, ROAD MONEY IS HUGE MORE THAN BUILDING FOR THAT MATTER, SO THIS VERY MONEY IS TOO MUCH, THE MINISTER AS GOT HIS SHEAR, WE KNOW THAT.
John Ametepeh Aheto 11 years ago

This government is not believable

This government is not believable

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That is why we are paying too much for this project

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