The Deputy Minister of Defence, Major Derek Oduro (rtd), has said that military can execute roads and other infrastructural projects and deliver within scheduled time frames when awarded such contracts.
“We have the best civil engineers in the armed forces and our personnel are more committed to work from the onset to the finishing, unlike some civilian contractors who abandon the project sites after taking advanced funds for the projects,” he said.
The Deputy Minister of Defence said that awarding such contracts to the military would also save the nation colossal amounts of money.
Major Oduro was speaking at the 66 Artillery Regiment in Ho on Wednesday after handing over the site for a housing project to cater for 20 families at the unit.
The $100 million Barracks Regeneration Project, which includes roads and water and other amenities at the various garrisons in the country, is expected to be completed before the end of this year.
Already, two residential blocks under the project at the 66 Artillery Regiment is almost complete.
Major Oduro, who is the Member of Parliament for Nkoranza North, said that the military was endowed with highly skilled personnel and could contribute to nation building in unmatched terms.
In recognition of that fact, he said that the government had now made it possible for soldiers to remain in service for longer years than before.
“In the past, soldiers retired at very youthful ages and went home with those vital skills, but that is no longer the case as some personnel can now serve in the army for 30 years,” he said.
Major Oduro pointed out that soldiers were trained at high costs, for which reason it was rather appropriate to keep them in the army and make use of their dexterity in the broader national interest.
He cited the example of Egypt where most of the country’s sterling highways were constructed by the military and sought to know why the same could not be done in Ghana.
The Deputy Minister of Defence, who was accompanied by Brigadier General A. Nsiah, General Officer Commanding the Southern Command, gave the assurance that the government was committed to the wellbeing of soldiers and would, therefore, commit fitting resource to their social security.
Mr Fred Aboagye-Larbi, a spokesman of the Beacon Survey Limited, the consulting surveyors, reassured that the project would be implemented smoothly and completed within the scheduled time frame.
FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO
