Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul has assured the country and specifically the people of Afari in the Atwima Nwabiagya Municipality in the Ashanti the region that the Military Hospital which started in 2008, but was stalled will be completed by end of the year.
This assurance was given when the Minister appeared before Parliament in Accra on Tuesday to answer question filed by the Member of Parliament for that area, Mr. Emmanuel Agyei seeking an answer to what had stalled the construction of the hospital.
The Defence Minister added that the extension of electricity which is estimated to take seven months would delay its handing over until the first half of 2020.
Explaining why the project was delayed, Dominic Nitiwul said, “these site challenges and documentation requirements delayed the project until commencement of construction in 2014,” adding that “though the contract was signed in 2008, actual construction started in 2014 with Messrs M Barbisoti and Sons (MBS) as sub-contractors and Messrs EDI as main contractors.
Mr Nitiwul said per the contract signed, the project was to be completed in a period of 42 months, in July 2016, but issues of tax exemption approval prevented the Contractor EDI from procuring materials and equipment in large quantities to accelerate the project and that slowed the work and delayed the project.
Mr Nitiwul noted that currently, civil works at the hospital site is about 90 percent complete whilst that of housing is about 50 percent complete and overall civil work is about 70 percent complete.
Giving background of the project, the Minister told the House that an agreement was signed between the Government of Ghana and Messrs Euroget Da Invest SA (EDI) on August 20, 2008 for the construction of a 500-Bed Military Hospital with residential staff housing as a turnkey contract to be completed within 42 months of commencement in Sofoline, Kumasi.
It was approved by Parliament on October 29, 2008 with a credit facility acquired on November 20, 2008 for the project. The contract agreement was revised on January 13, 2010 and the project relocated to Tamale.
The project was further relocated from Tamale to Accra at 37 Military Hospital and finally moved to Afari, Nkawie in the Atwima Nwabiagya Municipality.
The Minister informed the House that the Contractor EDI was finally granted tax exemption in 2017, after being on site for almost three years, and as a result a new completion date was proposed for 2018.
In April 2018, the project suffered contractual disputes between the main contractor, Messrs EDI and the sub-contractors Messrs MBS and Messrs HANISA which lasted for eight months leading to the determination of the sub-contracts.
“The case is currently in court,” the Minister said, and added that the Ministry then had to re-award the sub-contracts to new sub-contractors, Messrs African Building Partners (ABP) and Messrs Core Construction, but that took a while due to background checks that were required and completion of all necessary documentation.
The new sub-contractors, Messrs ABP and Core Construction, moved to site finally in November 2018 to commence work, which has steadily progressed to date without break.
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Source: Sammy Agyei/Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
