Persons with disability appeal for completion of resource center project

Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWD) in Tamale have appealed to the government to honour its promise by making funds available to complete a Resource Center Project for them.

At a press briefing in Tamale on Thursday, Mr. Mohammed Seidu Chantimah, Chairman of the Northern Region Chapter of PLWD, said failure to complete the project on schedule had brought hardship to the disabled community in the Tamale Metropolis.

In November 2010, the government through the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TAMA), awarded the project, which is situated opposite the new Tamale Sports Stadium, on contract to be completed in September 2011.

The project formed part of the Northern Region Poverty Reduction Programme (NORPREP) and comprises show rooms for displaying of income generating activities of the disabled, two conference halls, one to be used for commercial purposes, an office complex and four bedrooms, to serve as accommodation for visiting members.

However, the project, which is about 85% complete, has been abandoned leaving the disabled community no facility for capacity building and development. Mr. Chantimah said the PLWD had in the interim been operating from a rented facility where it was paying huge sums of money as rent.

He argued that if it (PLWD) were operating from its own offices, the funds being used to pay the rent could be used to better the lot of its members.

Asked why the project had stalled, Mr. Chantimah said the contractor complained of non-payment for work done and would only resume work when paid.

Checks by the Ghana News Agency revealed that when funds were not forthcoming, the government, through the ministry of local government and rural development wrote a letter in March this year signed by its Chief Director, Nana Oduro Kwarteng, directing TAMA to use part of its District Development Facility to settle the outstanding commitment.

TAMA, however, disregarded the directive saying obeying it would amount to breaching the country's procurement laws.