Govt refutes claims of inflated cost for Agenda 111 project

Mr Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, Sunday refuted claims that government has inflated the cost of district hospitals under the Agenda 111 project.

At a media briefing in Accra, Mr Nkrumah said the cost of 17 million dollars per a district hospital under the Agenda 111 constituted 50 percent of same constructed by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) Administration between 2013 and 2016.

He said the then NDC-led government constructed each district hospital at a cost of between 25 and 35 million dollars, compared to 17 million dollars by the New Patriotic Party-led government.

Mr Nkrumah encouraged healthy conversations on the Agenda 111 project and condemned the deliberate whipping up of partisan political sentiments to discredit the programme.

The Minister explained that all the 88 hospital projects awarded to 217 contractors under the programme were legally done in compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act.

He noted that the 100 million dollars (equivalent to GHC600 million) Commencement Funding had been made available to begin the construction and refuted claims that the amount had already been spent.

President Akufo-Addo announced in April, this year, that the Government would build 88 hospitals in districts without hospitals.

The number was later increased to 111 to include six regional hospitals in newly created regions, a new regional hospital in the Western Region, renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, and two specialized hospitals in the middle and northern belts of Ghana following the COVID-19 pandemic.