A-G’s Dept to pursue corrupt officials
The government has instructed the Attorney-General to pursue the prosecution of persons indicted in audit reports for allegedly misappropriating public funds, in line with its commitment to fight corruption.
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“I have also directed that sole sourcing should be used sparingly to ensure that our nation receives value for money and benefits from competitors,” President John Mahama said this when he delivered the State of the Nation Address to Parliament yesterday.
Anti-corruption legislation
He said the government had presented many pieces of anti-corruption legislation to Parliament, including the National Anti-corruption Action Plan and Strategy and the Anti-Money Laundering Amendment Bill.
He said the government had, in the past year, reviewed and taken appropriate legal and administrative actions on a number of programmes and projects to retrieve public funds.
Upgrading of airports
The President said a well-co-ordinated port infrastructure expansion programme had commenced at both the Tema and the Takoradi ports to position them in readiness for enhanced port business.
The programme, according to him, was targeted at Ghana’s landlocked neighbours, larger vessels and the oil and gas sector.
“Infrastructure development projects are major job creation avenues and these ongoing works are creating thousands of jobs,” President Mahama said.
He said as preparations were underway for the start of the upgrading of the Tamale Airport, the people could be assured of new job opportunities in the city, which would result from new and improved eco- and cultural tourism opportunities.
He added that work was progressing on the rehabilitation and expansion of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), stressing that the parking apron for wide-bodied aircraft had been completed.
He demanded from the management of the Ghana Airport Company and the Ministry of Transport a more secure, traveller-friendly KIA international standard arrival and departure facilities by the end of this year.
At the Kumasi Airport, he said, work was ongoing on the resurfacing of the runway, including runway lights and modern navigation systems.
Housing
Enumerating a number of interventions to reduce the 1.7 million housing deficit, President Mahama said work had commenced on a 5,000 unit project at Ningo in the Greater Accra Region.
He explained that that project was what was billed to be a 9,120 unit affordable housing complex.
According to him, the quest to tackle the housing deficit was being handled not as a 100 per cent government financed project but through various forms of private sector participation.
”Another set of 15,000 affordable units will be constructed over the next five years at Nsakina, Odumasi, Kpone and Borteyman,” he said.
Having followed discussions with some members of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), the President said he had directed the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and his counterpart at the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to discuss with GREDA a proposal for its contribution and involvement in the construction of affordable houses.
Water
President Mahama said the government’s long-term objective was to guarantee universal access of water by 2025 but that in the short term the government was to increase urban water coverage from the current level to 85 per cent by 2015, while taking rural water coverage to 76 per cent within the same period.
The Greater Accra Metropolitan area, he pointed out, accounted for 60 per cent of the total urban water supply in the country and projected that by 2015 daily demand would be 150 million gallons.
“Total water production from the Kpong and the Weija treatment plants, which supply the area, stands at only 93 million gallons per day. This leaves a shortfall of 57 million gallons each day,” President Mahama said.
To bridge that gap, he outlined a number of ongoing key projects to deliver 63.5 million gallons of water per day to the existing production capacity.
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He gave an assurance that between this year and 2015, total water supply to the Greater Accra Metropolitan area would increase to 158.3 million gallons per day, enough to meet demand in the area by the close of 2015.
He named the projects as the Kpong intake rehabilitation project and the Teshie Nungua desalination project.
Roads
The President was confident about the government’s achievements in the road sector, saying progress had been made on many road projects in various parts of the country.
“We are on schedule to complete the 147-kilometre Fufulso-Sawla Road in the Northern Region,” he said, adding that that long stretch of road had completely transformed the catchment area it covered.
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Within Accra, he noted a number of road works in progress, including the Kwame Nkrumah Circle interchange.
Energy
On the energy sector, President Mahama said 534 megawatts of power was added in 2013, bringing the total generation capacity to 2,845.
He said the government was aggressively pursuing the completion of a number of additional power generation projects, including the first phase of the 220 megawatt Kpone Thermal Power Plant and completion of the 110-megawatt T2.
The President announced that several independent power producers would commence the construction of new power plants this year.
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