[ 2015-03-28 ]

Confusion Over $29m Kumasi Airport Project
There was a real tug of war between the minority
New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the majority
National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament
yesterday over the breakdown of $29 million, being
the amount purportedly spent on the rehabilitation
of the Kumasi Airport by the NDC government.

The Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Ativor, was
summoned before Parliament to answer an urgent
question standing in the name of the NPP MP for
Manhyia South, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, who
wanted to know the detailed breakdown for the
amount of money spent on the rehabilitation of the
Kumasi Airport.

The minister, in her answer, said the
rehabilitation of the existing airfield pavement
which included patch repair works, correction of
undulating surface, provision of Asphalt
Reinforcement Grid (ARG) on a regulating course,
provision and placing of 70mm thick marshall
asphalt on top of the reinforcement grid, pavement
marking and earthwork to the runway to ensure
compliance with standards of the Ghana Civil
Aviation Authority (GCAA) and International Civil
Aviation Organisation, cost $23,829,271 ($23.9m)
while consultancy services for the airfield
pavement works also cost the nation $409,829.

The transport minister also explained that a total
of $4,659,547 was spent on provision of
aeronautical ground lighting systems at the
airport, which included designing and training
while consultancy for that work also cost the
nation $194,449.

Her answer did not go down well with the MP for
Manhyia South who wanted to know the actual
breakdown for specific works carried out under the
rehabilitation of the airfield pavement, but his
further probing was vehemently opposed by the
majority leader, Alban Bagbin, who said that
Parliament was not the platform to make that
request.

The majority leader said if the MP wanted the
actual breakdown of the cost then he could go to
the ministry of transport to ascertain that.

The minority members, led by Osei
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, also insisted that the minister
should be able to give the details of the cost
since she had a copy of the contract in her hand
when she came to answer the question; but that
request also became another bone of contention as
to whether that document was a public document
which had to be laid in Parliament. The Speaker,
Edward Doe Adjaho, intervened and directed the
minister to provide the details as requested by
the Minority by the close of work yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Manhyia South MP in an interaction
with DAILY GUIDE has raised serious questions
about the minister’s response, saying that the
figures given for the rehabilitation of the
airfield were questionable.

“How can the nation spend a whopping $23.9
million on rehabilitation of just 1.9km runway?”
he queried.

He said that from his personal investigations, the
figure quoted for the provision of the
aeronautical ground lighting might be correct but
the figure quoted for the rehabilitation of the
airfield had been ballooned.

“If indeed the nation spent that $23.9 million
on 1.9km runway then that will mean that the
Kumasi Airport runway is the most expensive runway
in the world,” he remarked.

Source - Daily Guide

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