Northern Development Authority cuts sod for projects in UWR

The Northern Development Authority (NDA) has cut the sod for the construction of an emergency ward at the Lawra Municipal Hospital and a maternity ward at the Busa Health Centre in the Lawra and Wa Municipalities respectively.

The M. K. Poku Enterprise is the contractor in charge of the GH?607,000.00 15-bed capacity emergency ward project, while Alhassan Waale Ventures is to contract for the GH?220,000.00 two-delivery bed and two-lying-in bed capacity maternity ward project.

Mr Stephen Engmen, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NDA, who handed over the projects to the contractors at Lawra and Busa on Wednesday, noted that the projects were under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) as part of the implementation of the One Million Dollar per Constituency initiative of the government.

He said in all 225 projects were earmarked to be implemented in the Upper West Region in 2020 under the special initiative.

The Deputy CEO urged the contractors to ensure quality of work that would stand the test of time, to enable the people to derive the maximum benefit from the facilities.

He said the authority would not countenance the attitude of some contractors who tried to short-change the tax payers for their personal benefits, saying “they want to buy new cars and marry four wives” at the end of the project.

Mr Engmen indicated that the projects for the communities were arrived at after consultation with the community members and stakeholders to ascertain the principal needs of the beneficiary communities to foster community ownership of those projects.

Mr Bernard Ziem, the Lawra Municipal Health Director, commended the government for the construction of the facility and said it was timely in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and increasing health needs of the people.

He said the timely completion of the facility would help prevent unnecessary deaths at the facility, stressing that it would help improve emergency health care services delivery to the people.

He encouraged the public to observe the precautionary measures against the COVID-19 including social distancing, regular handwashing with soap under running water and regular use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers among others to avoid contracting the deadly virus.

Mr Andrews Kuundaari, the Director for A&QS Consult Limited, the consultant for the projects, said works on the two projects were expected to commence in two weeks.

He explained that the emergency ward at the Lawra Municipal Hospital was expected to be completed in six months, while the maternity ward at the Busa Health Centre was also expected to be completed within three months.

He entreated the community members to be watch-dogs over the contractors, to ensure they executed good quality job and to report any untoward activities of the contractors to the authorities for the necessary action to be taken against them.

Mr Kuundaari also implored the contractors to be expedient with the projects and to complete them within the stipulated time frame or risk losing the contracts.