Work on the Police Hospital redevelopment project in Accra will be completed soon, the Deputy Minister for the Interior, Naana Eyiah, has assured the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.
This, she said, follows the resolution of a disagreement between the Ministry of Finance and the international contractors over withholding tax of €259,931.94, which stalled the project.
Answering queries about the project at the PAC in Accra on Friday, she said the Finance Ministry had refunded the amount and that work on the project would be continued unabated.
“Yes, the Finance Minister has paid €259,931.94 so very soon, very soon, the contractors will finish the project,” she said, but could not give timelines on the completion.
The PAC’s queries about the project emanated from the 2021 Auditor-General Report on the public accounts of Ghana – Ministries, Departments and other Agencies.
Per the report, the government and the International Hospital Group signed a €23,738,312.00 contract on June 5, 2003 for the Police Hospital Redevelopment Project which was to be completed within 36 months.
It noted that the project was about 75 per cent complete but was abandoned for about 10 years until 2017 when stakeholders began discussions on the continuation and completion of the project.
The report said the project had stalled again due to disagreements between the contractor and government in respect of an amount of €259,931.94, withheld as tax from payment of interim certificate of €5,414,847.00. 554.
It, therefore , recommended that the Inspector General of Police should liaise with the Ministry of Finance through the Ministry of Interior to resolve the withholding tax issue to allow for the continuation and completion of the project.
According to Ms Eyiah, who is the Member of Parliament for Gomoah Central, the Interior and Finance Ministries had worked on the matter as recommended by the report.
The Chairman of the PAC, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, said parliament waived taxes as part of the preconditions for the loan for the project and that it would be wrong for the Ministry of Finance to withhold the tax.
He urged the Ministry to refund any outstanding money due the contractors and urged the contractors to return to site and complete the project so it could aid health care delivery for both the police and the public.
The Member of Parliament for South Dayi Constituency in the Volta Region, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, said the completion of the project was long overdue, and that the ministries should ensure it did not re-appear in Audit reports.
The completion of the hospital, he said, would help reduce the no-bed syndrome in Accra and save many lives.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
