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HEALTH

Agenda 111: Contractor changed to speed up work in Builsa South

Mr Daniel Kwame Gariba, the Builsa South District Chief Executive (DCE) in the Upper East Region, says the Contractor for the ‘Agenda 111 project’ in the district has been replaced by another Contractor to facilitate the progress of work on the project.

Date Created : 9/12/2023 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : Godfred A. Polkuu / Ghanadistricts.com

He said the initial Contractor was not performing as expected, “We had to pull a lot of strings and now a new person has taken over and is working hard. He has promised to reach an advanced level by December 2023.”

The DCE was hopeful that by July 2024, the project would be completed and commissioned for use, noting that “It is a key project that the President is keen about and has recognised Builsa South and given to us,” he said.

Mr Gariba said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the Agency in the District visited the project site to assess the progress of work. The GNA observed that the accommodation for doctors and nurses which was done by the new Contractor was roofed while the main structure, started by the former Contractor, was still at foundation level.

The ‘Agenda 111 project’ was initiated by the government during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic to construct 111 hospitals across Districts in the country without hospitals, to improve Universal Health Coverage.

In the Upper East Region, the Builsa South District, the Kassena-Nankana West, Tempane, Pusiga, Binduri, Nabdam and the Garu Districts were expected to benefit from the project, and construction works are at various levels of completion across these Districts.

If the Builsa South District project is completed and fully functional, it would attend to health cases in the district and from nearby communities in the Mamprugu-Moagduri District of the North East Region, and further ease pressure on the Sandema Hospital which is the main referral centre for the Buluk area.

“The main structure is still at the oversight level, and that is my disappointment with the Contractor because this is a US$10million project, the government has given mobilization of US$1million to start the work. “But he has not even done up to oversight concrete and that is disappointing,” Mr Gariba, who is the Dean of the Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) in the Region, said.

The DCE said following the slow attitude of the Contractor towards the work, he had to formally report to Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the Coordinator of the ‘Agenda 111 project’. “Now a new person has taken over, and looking at the energy the new Contractor is putting into the job, we are hopeful that we will overcome the initial challenges that delayed us,” he said.

The DCE, also a Parliamentary Candidate hopeful for the Builsa South Constituency, commenting on other on-going projects in the district, mentioned a rice processing factory which would engage 50 youth under the ‘Enable Youth Programme’ under the Rural Enterprise Project of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

He said the project was about 90 per cent complete, “In fact the installation has been done, what is left is the dryer; where the rice would be put to dry with the right temperature before processing is done. “The structure for the dryer is almost complete, once that is done, we will commission it. It is our expectation that by October, the factory would have been set to take on board the rice that will be harvested from the valleys for processing.

“So, we hope to start consuming processed rice from that factory right from October, November, December onwards,” he said.