We anticipated some of these things when S&P informed you that you had defaulted on your international debts. We were aware that this was the case. Is the NDC still in the right? Didn’t we inform the Upper East Region residents? On A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show today, John Paul Danka, a member of the NDC’s Upper East Regional Communication Team, said.
His remarks were in response to the Deputy Minister for Roads’s earlier remarks regarding the condition of the Bolgatanga-Bawku Road.
Stephen Pambiin Jalulah, the Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, put an end to the controversy that erupted in the Upper East Region over the past two weeks regarding the construction of the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Polimakom road.
Many people in the area are asking about the contractor’s whereabouts and the reasons for abandoning the site due to the contractor’s apparent absence on the road stretch.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the region blasted the Queiroz Galvao MI Brazilian construction company for abandoning the project at a press conference.
In a press conference about the project, the NDC said that the construction company had left the site because the NPP government didn’t pay the contractor who was building the 117.9-kilometer road.
However, the claims of the NDCs were strongly refuted in a counterpress conference held by the NPP Communication Directorate and addressed by Peter Ayinbisa Ayamga, the Regional Communication Director.
Stephen Pambiin Jalulah, Deputy Roads and Highways and Member of Parliament for Pru West, however, tied the absence of the contractor to the government’s inability to meet financial obligations in an exclusive interview with Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show in order to put an end to the controversies.
Mr. Jalulah says that the government hasn’t been able to settle the foreign financial institutions that are funding the Ghanaian government to build these important roads all over the country.
“The government has not been able to fulfill its obligations to the contractors who are working on our roads because it has not paid its obligations to the bank and other financial institutions. I want your listeners to be aware that we have a variety of funding options for projects in Ghana, and that most roads require significant investment. Typically, we do not have the funds, so we must borrow money from banks outside the country and pay interest on it. Since the Bolga Bawku Polimakom road is one of these projects, the government sought funding elsewhere to construct the road.
Therefore, as a result of the government’s decision not to pay interest on its loans to all foreign banks and financial institutions, these banks are unable to provide funds to contractors working on our national roads. Therefore, if a contractor has left the site, that is essentially the reason.
In place of this, Mr. Danka demanded an apology from the NPP’s communication department for deceiving the Upper East Region population.
