The Upper East Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service has appealed to the government to pay off contractors executing educational projects in the region to enable them complete and handover the projects to improve quality education delivery in the area.
According to the directorate, most of the 200 uncompleted projects in the region were due to the non-payment of contractors.
Raymond Abatanie, the Regional Deputy Director of Education in-charge of Planning and Projects, told Citi News, the problem required urgent attention.
“We have collated over 200 projects scattered over the 13 districts of the region, ranging from Administration blocks, Dormitories, Six unit Classroom blocks for the Basic level and so on.”
“Most of these projects have been abandoned, most of them have just skeletal stuff on the ground. Others that have completed and handed over and are in use but there are even threats by most of the contractors to go back and lock these facilities over non-payment.”
“From March 2000 up to now, most contractors have not been paid, others have completed but are not willing to handover because they have not been paid. Examples are the two-storey Fumbisi administration, Gbeogo school for the Deaf Boys dormitory, St. John Integrated dining hall and many other projects.”
“39 projects that are completed for long and we don’t know why the contractors cannot be paid and it’s a big problem to education delivery,” he said.
Mr. Abatanie warned that any delay in the payment of monies owed the contractors may result in dire consequences on teaching and learning in the area.
“Government should try and pay for those projects that are completed and in use so that contractors will not lock these facilities when school reopens. And those that are completed and not handover, the government should also pay them off and also payments for contractors whose projects are stalled.”
Mr. Abatanie further noted that some districts and municipal education offices, especially at Binduri, Nabdam, Bolgatanga, Kassena Nankana, Builsa North, and South were either housed on rented premises or in classrooms.
He said, even though the Bongo and Garu education offices were about 90 percent completed, the contractors were adamant in completing the projects and handing them over.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
