Euroget De-Invest, the main contractor on the Ministry of Defence’s 500-bed capacity hospital has stated that work on the project is still ongoing and it is untrue that it was completed in 2018.
This followed a video that has gone viral on social media on the project giving the impression that equipment among other things have been abandoned to rot under the mercy of the weather.
The video showed that medical gas cylinders, MRI equipment, extractor fans and air handling units had been abandoned on site.
A visit by the Deputy Defence Minister, Kofi Amankwah Manu and an entourage, yesterday, indicated that the project was still ongoing and about 92 per cent completed. And, that no medical equipment has been exposed to the weather.
The project started in 2014 and estimated at $180 million but now there has seen an increase of $19 million that has to be paid by the government to the contractor on completion of the project.
It came to a point where the project was moved to Tamale from Sofoline in Kumasi, then to Tema, but eventually came to Afari in 2014, as one of the nine facilities across the country with Euroget De-Invest (EDI) being the contracting firm.
The Deputy Minister explained that the project had incurred additional cost for variation which was initially $36 million but government was able to beat it down to the US$19 million.
The project, when completed would have 15 operating theatres, nine delivery rooms, mortuary for 150 bodies, 600 cars and 18 bus parking lots among the lot.
After the tour, Mr Manu indicated that government had the project at heart and would not engage in any dubious deal by allowing damaged equipment to be installed.
According to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the EDI, the MRI equipment mentioned in the video as exposed to the weather “is not even on site now.”
“We will not sit down for the contractor to damage the equipment before installing them.
He observed that equipment that needed to be indoors was intact and that there was no medical equipment exposed to the weather.
The Deputy Minister gave a timeline for the completion and operation of the facility in December this year.
Chairman and chief executive officer of the EDI, Dr Said Deraz, earlier indicated that the video commentary has misrepresentations on the project which should be ignored in its entirety.
On the extractor fans and air handling units, he said they were neatly covered with polythene sheets which were removed to capture the items in the video “and it should be clarified that those items are outdoor items and were properly stored.”
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, AFARI
