The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda Constituency surprisedly paid a whooping amount worth GH¢1 million to fund an abandoned road project under construction in the Oda enclave.
Alexander Akwasi Acquah, the MP, said he made the payment from his personal to aid the completion of the project “based on the confidence I have in the Finance Minister’s pledge to pay contractors.”
The said road project is part of a 150-kilometer town roads earmarked for construction in various municipalities and districts in the Eastern Region, which were awarded to contract by the Department of Urban Roads (DUR) back in 2017.
Contracts for construction works of the Akim Oda road projects was awarded to Jomint Construction Limited.
However, the contractor vacated the site midway between February and March, 2022, due to lack of funds from the government.
Residents’ concern
Series of meeting were recently held by some traditional authorities and indigenes of the area.
They had questioned the project halt and deliberated on how to possibly raise funds to bring back the contractor to site.
MPs intervention
But to the surprise of the constituents of Akim Oda, their affable Lawmaker, and the Akwasi Acquah had paid a huge amount of money to Jomint Construction Limited through a bank to enable it complete the abandoned project.
“It is the reason I was emboldened to advance an amount of One Million Ghana Cedis to the contractor to come and resume working on the Akim Oda town roads. I believe in my government,” the MP disclosed.
He added: “I took this decision based on the confidence I have in the Finance Minister’s pledge to pay contractors.”
A Lead Contractor for Jomint Construction Limited in charge of the Akim Oda road project has since made a U-turn and visited the abandoned project for immediate return to site.
Confirming their resumption to the site in the coming days, he told a local radio station in the area that the Bank had pre-informed him of the payment made by the MP in their company’s name.
“The Bank had spoken to me already that they are doing the necessary requirements to disburse the money to me immediately,” the Contractor said in the interview monitored Angelonline.com.gh.
Asked if they were ready to return to the site, he responded affirmatively, adding that they had prayed for such positive development to enable them to execute their mandate.
He heaped praises on Alexander Akwasi Acquah for the kind gesture indicating that, his four decades of working experience has not received such positive development.
Investment in road projects
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in his 2024 budget presentation to Parliament noted that President Akufo-Addo’s government had expanded and improved the road network by investing about GH¢16 billion.
The Minister indicated that through this investment, the government recorded “the most kilometers of roads and interchanges done in our history.”
He added that resources were mobilised and deployed to expand the railway network, including connecting Tema to Mpakadan to promote trade on the Eastern Corridor.
