Minister rejects sub-standard blocks for project
Dr. Ephraim Avea Nsoh, Upper West Regional Minister over the weekend instructed the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District Assembly to reject sub-standard blocks provided by a Wa based construction firm for a health post.
The blocks, part of which had been laid for the construction of a Community Health and Planning Service (CHPS) Compound for the Duong community were found to be sub-standard.
Dr. Nsoh said the over 6,000 blocks meant for the construction of the GHC81,357.55 facility was of bad quality and could pose a danger to the lives of patients in future.
“I am not a technical man to determine the standard of the blocks but if the blocks can be mashed with the palm then we can reject them because they are not good.
Dr. Nsoh was on a working visit to the district to interact with workers and to know their challenges and constraints, with the view to addressing some of them.
The Regional Minister took time off to inspect government projects, which led to the discovery of the blocks at Duong, a farming community that had no health facility. Similarly, Dr. Nsoh has also ordered the Wa Municipal Assembly to prevail on another contractor to stop work on an 18 unit storey classroom block, accusing the contractor of doing a shoddy work.
The Regional Minister has instituted a three-man committee to examine the quality of the blocks used on the GHC793,000 project and report back to him within the shortest possible time for the necessary action.
Dr. Nsoh explained that until contractors in the region learn to do quality jobs on government projects to benefit the people, he would continue to wage a relentless war on them, saying: “I cherish quality work, I am not against anybody”.
He warned that he would not tolerate the practice of contractors subletting contracts awarded them to other contractors; a situation he noted was contributing largely to the shoddy works.
Dr. Nsoh advised contractors to improve their capacities and technical know-how, to enable them to deliver quality work.
The Regional Minister inspected a GHC150,000 maternity block, a GHC320,000 mini administrative block, and a GHC404,000 two-unit Junior Staff accommodation block, made up of five apartments at Issa.
Dr. Nsoh also inspected ongoing renovation works on two semi- detached nurses’ quarters at Daffiama, costing GHC 62,000 each.
Source: GNA