The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has justified spending more than GH7 million on a project that was projected to cost less than GH1 million cedis.
The Ministry of Finance, in a statement, denounced media reporting on the project as erroneous and highlighted the reasons for the project ballooning to GH7 million.
On Friday, January 20, the Foreign Affairs Ministry testified before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee that the project, which was meant to cost the government GH1,435,728.99, ended up costing the government GH7,967,886.57 since the contractor did not finish on time owing to illness.
On March 15, 2007, International Development Resources was granted the contract for the refurbishment of Adu Lodge Guest House.
However, according to the Ministry's Acting Chief Director, Ambassador Ramses Joseph Cleland, the project was put on hold a year later owing to the contractor's bad health.
According to the Ministry, the project was examined in March 2019 and re-valued at GH7,967,886.57 for the same contractor to perform at the request of the consultant.
But the Foreign Affairs Ministry in an attempt to set the records straight said the original award to Messrs International Development Resources (IDR) on 15th March 2007 by the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL) was to demolish the originally existing 3 buildings that constituted the Lodge, at the time, and construct a new building of twelve (12) bedroom at a contract sum of Fourteen Billion, Three Hundred and Fifty-Seven Million, Two Hundred and Eighty-Nine Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy old Ghana cedis (14,357,289.77), equivalent to One Million, Four Hundred and Thirty-Five Thousand, Seven Hundred and Twenty-Eight new Ghana Cedis, Ninety-Eight Pesewas (GH01,435.728.98) after the redenomination of the Cedi in July 2007.
However, the contract value was changed in October 2011 to four million, four hundred and thirty-two thousand, five hundred and fifty-eight Ghana cedis, and seventy pesewas.
The Foreign Ministry's complete statement is provided below.
