Minister Cautions Contractors

18-06-2010
The Minister of Education, Alex Tetteh-Enyo says his ministry will not hesitate to abrogate contracts that fail to meet the schedule of projects earmarked for the construction of educational facilities under the National Crash Programme. Moreover, consultants and supervisors would be held responsible for shoddy works. Mr. Tetteh-Enyo gave the warning during his 2-day inspection tour of on-going facilities in some Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Upper East Region. The visit was to officially launch the National Educational Crash Programme designed by the government to ensure additional school infrastructure for all SHSs in Ghana. Speaking to Radio Ghana, Mr. Tetteh-Enyo said the decision to mark the beginning of the construction is to demonstrate government’s principle of responding to the infrastructural needs of deprived SHS to enhance effective teaching and learning and also increase student intake into SHS come September, this year. This, he explained, has become necessary following the unfortunate government’s decision to change the duration from three to four years. Contracts, he indicated, have been awarded to local contractors to provide additional classrooms, dormitories and staff accommodation among others in order to cater for the additional one year. This will also serve as the requirements for admission into SHS in September, this year. Mr. Tetteh-Enyo assured the beneficiary schools that the facilities would be ready before the intake of the next batch of students. He said the first phase of the projects would be the construction of 6 Unit classroom blocks and some dormitories for 214 schools across the country. Another set of 6 Unit classroom blocks in 140 schools will also take off in the next few weeks. In all 525 schools including Technical institutions would benefit under the crash programme. The projects will be undertaken using ‘Quick Build Technology’ by contractors who have agreed to pre-finance the construction. The system according to the minister will ensure timely construction of those projects. Mr. Tetteh-Enyo expressed government’s determination to extent the programme to the rest of the SHS and Technical Institutions. He added that school administrators would be tasked with the responsibility of taking good care of the facilities when finally completed, to ensure their regular maintenance.
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