Thirty-six contractors engaged on the construction of schools devastated by floods in Upper East Region in 2007, have called on the Minister of Education to explain the whereabouts of a 500-million dollar World Bank grant provided for the projects.

The projects, which begun in 2008, came to a standstill following the ministry’s failure to pay the contractors. Mr. Abdulai John Abugbiire, spokesperson for the contractors told Times newspaper at Bolgatanga last week that they pre-financed the projects which were nearing completion. The projects, dubbed “Northern Disaster Schools Project,” were funded by the World Bank which made available 500 million dollars (¢500 bilion old cedis) to rebuild schools.

Each of the 36 projects, costing GH¢105,000 (¢1.5 billion old cedis) has a six-classroom block, a library, a teachers’ common-room, a six-seater KVIP and stores. The contractors said that they took bank loans at interest rates that had risen from about 22 per cent then to between 38 and 40 per cent today while the cost of building materials had also gone up significantly.

Mr John Abdulai,an affected contractor himself, hinted that they were serving notice to the ministry that they would soon put in application for the variation of the contract sum and mitigation of their bank interest bill. He has consequently called on the ministry to pay them immediately or break its silence over the issues. The Times investigations have revealed that since the flood disaster of August 2007, which destroyed over 40 basic and Junior High Schools, over 5,000 pupils have been denied education.

Reacting to the story, Mr. Paul Kofi Krampah, head of Public Relations at the Ministry of Education, said the contractors were given mobilization funds to start the projects. He said that efforts were being made to pay them the outstanding debts.



Source: The Ghanaian Times