Gov't Spends ?1.1bn On Official Residences

From Macch Adjetey Sowah, Ho. Government is to spend 1.1 billion cedis for the rehabilitation of residences of the Volta Regional Minister, Kwesi Owusu Yeboah, his deputy and the Ho Municipal Chief Executive.

The rehabilitation works on the residence of the two ministers include repairs on the main building, guest house, boys quarters and some external works.

The breakdown of estimated cost of repairs for the Regional Minister's residence is ?389,105, 800, Deputy Regional Minister, ?391,563,724 and the Municipal Chief Executive ?285,000,000. All these monies have been released to Messrs. Smile Investment Limited since October 2001 but the jobs have not yet been fully completed.

The contract sparked off confusion among the contractors association in the region after it had been awarded to Messrs Smile Investment Limited. Many of the contractors have accused Mr. Tommy Amekatekpor, Managing Director of Smile Investment Limited who is also the Special Advisor to the President, as influencing the award of contracts laid before the Regional Tender Board.

The award of contracts are also said to be done in contravention of the laid down procedures as they are based on negotiated tender other than open tender to invite pre-qualification bidding from interested bidders.

This situation has brought grief and discontentment among the members of the contractors association in the region and who have promised to register their displeasure with the Regional Minister soon.

According to the MP for Ketu South, Modestus Ahiable, who is a member of the Regional Tender Board, he has not been happy with the way proceedings are conducted at the Regional Tender Board meetings, because any time that there is supposed to be a session, decisions are taken before he arrives or at times he is not notified at all.

He therefore expressed indignation about the procedures at the Board meetings and called for a review of most contracts awarded to Messrs. Smile Investment Limited.