Govt to set up fund for infrastructural devt
The government is to set up a project development fund to provide financial support for infrastructural projects in the country.
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The fund will be used to prepare projects and give every initiative the opportunity to proceed beyond the concept stage.
The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mrs Mona Helen Quartey, made this known at the opening of the first national project management conference in Accra last Friday.
The conference was organised by the Project Management Institute (PMI) Ghana Chapter with the support of PMI Global to discuss current project management prospectives and other issues.
The institute was founded in the United States in 1969 and has now spread to over 200 countries across the globe with over 700,000 membership.
Mrs Quartey said effective management should lead to equitable economic growth, poverty reduction, job creation and provide empowerment opportunities for individuals and communities.
Public Partnership Policy (PPP)
Mrs Quartey also announced that the government had launched a private public partnership (PPP) policy for the implementation of projects that could demonstrate economic viability and value for money.
She said currently there were a number of projects that the government was processing for PPP delivery, including the dualisation of the Accra-Takoradi and Accra-Kumasi highways, expansion of the Takoradi Port to increase business and the expansion of the Accra-Tema motorway, among others.
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Additionally, Mrs Quartey said, the government was processing a bulk water treatment plant project for deployment at Asutuare, a sports complex at the Winneba Sports College and two health facility projects at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
Advice
The Deputy Minister said there was much that could be done to improve the management of infrastructure and service delivery.
For example, she said, the PPP policy introduced private sector efficiencies in public infrastructure delivery and management and would also bring in the necessary funds for investment.
Professor Agyemang Badu Akorsah, a former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), advised the project managers to tour project sites and work out solutions to challenges and not wait till buildings collapsed before they complained.
The President of PMI Ghana, Mr Augustine Harrington-Nunoo, said a research conducted by PMI international, indicated that in 2014, $109 million was lost in every $10 billion project globally.
He called on the government to rely on project managers to ensure that projects were well executed in the country.