Cost of tree planting exercise less than GH¢1m, not GH¢125m

Deputy Minister-designate for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Mireku Duker, has dismissed media reports that the government’s Green Ghana initiative, where an estimated 5million trees are to be planted, costs a whopping GH¢125 Million.

According to him, the entire exercise did not cost even a million Ghana cedis.

A letter from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, received by the Office of the Speaker of Parliament, has revealed that the Green Ghana Project will require 125 million cedis.

The letter, signed by the Chairman of the Fundraising Committee of the Green Ghana Project, Ehunabobrim Nana Prah Agyensaim VI, and copied to the Ministers for Lands and Natural Resources and Foreign Affairs, was inviting “Parliament, its staff, and other parliamentarians to contribute to this fund.“

The purpose of this exercise is to encourage Ghanaians and friends of Ghana to plant trees to preserve the country’s forest and vegetation cover for balanced ecology.

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, this presidential initiative will require an amount of GH¢125,000,000),” excerpts of the letter reads.

But speaking on Okay Fm’s Ade Akye Abia Programme, a bemused Hon Duker, who is also the NPP MP for Tarkwa-Nsueam, pointed out the fact that the committee believed the project could cost GH¢125m, did not mean that amount of money was spent.

“I am sure they may have done that out of political mischief…

….The committee set up by the ministry to ensure the sustainability of the exercise anticipated that they may need such an amount to maintain the exercise….However, the main exercise was less than a million Ghana cedis,” he added.

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