Pierre Laporte, Country Director of the World Bank
Country Director of the World Bank, Pierre Laporte, has indicated his institution is satisfied with Ghana’s implementation of COVID-19 projects.
In the onset of the pandemic, the Government of Ghana was able to access US$100 million from the Bretton Woods institution as part of efforts to curtail the spread of the virus and cushion the economy.
But some Civil Society Organisations, the Minority in Parliament and a section of the well-meaning public have raised concerns over the use of the funds for its intended purposes.
Addressing journalists in Accra last week, Mr Laporte said the World Bank has not yet received a report of the said misuse of funds by government.
“At this point, I’ve not had any report coming to us suggesting any issue as far as our projects are concerned. We have our own internal procurement processes which we use across the world and which also apply in Ghana”
“All I can say is that we’ve been able to provide the second additional financing because we are happy with the implementation of the first one,” Laporte pointed.
As part of Ghana’s response to the global pandemic, Ghana received US$100 million from the World Bank. The government used US$35 million towards the Ghana Emergency Preparedness and Response Project.
The remaining US$65 million is currently funding the Greater Accra Resilience and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, which will improve flood risk and solid waste management in the Odaw River Basin.