Local Govt Minister bemoans high cost of state projects
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has expressed grave concern over the situation where development projects implemented by state agencies are more expensive than similar projects executed by companies and philanthropic organisations in the same area.
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He has also expressed worry as to why, although such government-sponsored projects are more expensive than those funded by private entities, the privately sponsored projects usually have a longer lifespan and are of a higher quality.
Addressing the opening session of a two-day workshop to enhance the capacity of presiding members to play their roles more effectively in Kumasi yesterday, Alhaji Dauda charged the presiding members to ensure that there was value for money for projects executed by the state.
He alleged that the supervision of contractors working on government projects was not the best, while the assemblies had not ensured value for money.
He cited instances when, in the Asutifi South Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, he had seen cracks in walls of buildings sponsored by the government soon after they had been handed over to the assembly.
Alhaji Dauda mentioned specifically CHPS compounds and six-classroom blocks and said: “We all know the cost of six-classroom blocks constructed by a government agency in a particular community and the other by a mining company in the same area as its social responsibility.”
Wrong system
Alhaji Dauda wondered what was wrong with the government system because a six-classroom block constructed in the same locality by some private companies with similar materials bought from the same market and with the same kind of labour tended to produce better quality structures at lower cost than the one executed by government agencies.
Harmony
Opening the two-day training workshop, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr John Alexander Ackon, explained that leadership in the assemblies consisted of the district chief executive, the presiding member and the coordinating director and underscored the need for the three to work in harmony to ensure proper functioning of the district assemblies.
