Accra (Greater Accra) 31 March ?99

Mr Kwaku Twum-Boafo of the Twum-Boafo and Partners Consultants told the three-member Committee probing the stadium contract award on Tuesday that the carpet for the Very Important Personalities (VIP) lounge at the Accra Sports stadium provided by Maid Mariam company cost 9,733,504 cedis.

Mr Twum-Boafo, who was making his third appearance before the Committee, said the same carpet provided by Minradex Co Limited for the Press and Information Centre was valued at 5.9 million cedis

Witness said 69.3 million cedis was paid for furniture at the VIP lounge while the 18 aluminium tables at the press information centre were priced at 450,000 cedis each. He said electronic equipment from SMOTEX Ghana Limited, which included one VTR, five pieces of refrigerator, two LG TV sets and a microwave oven, were valued at 14.29 million cedis.

When the chairman of the committee, Lt-Col. Emmanuel Tagoe (rtd) pointed out that information reaching the Committee indicates that the TV sets were four and not two, Mr Twum-Boafo remarked that "perhaps the other two are on their way".

According to Witness, curtains for the VIP lounge was bought at 21.76 million cedis and four TV-stands at 3.539,250 cedis. He said re-roofing of the VIP lounge was valued at 15 million cedis plus five per cent charged by the contractors as overhead profit. Witness said the amount charged by the contractor for the sub-contract works was "absolutely normal". Asked why, such jobs were not undertaken by the contractors, he said in most cases, the contractors pay the sub-contractor before funds are made available by government. Asked to tell the Committee the total cost of the rehabilitation, Mr Twum-Boafo said it would be difficult for him to do that even before the probe ends because all the figures available are estimates which are subject to vetting by the Consultants and negotiations with the Contractors.