Northern Regional Minister tasked to review UDG contracts

The Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Salifu Saeed has been tasked to review all contracts awarded under the Urban Development Grants (UDG) and the Ghana Urban Management Pilot Project (GUMPP) to be sure that they were properly awarded.

The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama gave the directive during a visit to the Northern regional capital, Tamale to inspect the UDG and GUMPP projects which are currently being executed.

The UDG projects which were awarded under the erstwhile John Mahama administration are expected to end in December, 2017while the GUMPP projects would end in 2018.

“My objective for coming is [that] the UDG project is ending in December. We’ve made the last payment for the new contracts to take place. I’ve sent a letter and I’ve asked the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), in fact, I’ve asked the regional minister to direct that he should review the contracts that have been given to see that they were properly awarded,” she said.

According to the minister, she was there to see for herself the extent of work and what was required to complete them before final payments are made.

“GUMPP is also finishing in June 2018. So we have to look at it, the contractors who have handed over; to see what they still have to do to finish up before we give the final payment and then to look at what we can do to complete the whole package,” he stated.

The projects which include the Gumani storm drains, the upgrading of the Moshi-Zongo community roads, the reconstruction of the Tamale Central Market, the completion of the Aboabo Super Market, construction of additional stores at the Aboabo heavy duty car park, the rehabilitation of the Tamale main abattoir among others are being funded by the UDG, the GUMMP and the Agence Francaise De Development (AFD).

The construction of the Gumani storm drain was expected to help mitigate the plight of the people who have endured perennial flooding in the area for a long time now.

Many of the residents were therefore unhappy about the delay in the completion of the project. In an interview with Radio Tamale, 91.7FM last month, some of them expressed worry over the lack of footbridges on the drain which they said made it difficult for school children and adults to cross the drain.

The Local Government Minister gave the contractor in charge of the drain a one-month ultimatum to complete footbridges and fill up the trenches that were dug at the sideways of the drain during the construction.

Hajia Alima Mahama expressed general satisfaction with the progress of work but said more needed to be done to make the projects more convenient for use by the people.

The minister also directed the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TAMA) and the Sagnarigu District Assembly (SDA) to constitute an operational and maintenance team to ensure that the projects were well maintained to give them a longer lifespan.

The minister was accompanied by the Tamale MCE, Mr. Iddrisu Musah Superior, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sagnarigu, Mariam Iddrisu and officials from both assemblies.