The Minority in Parliament has vowed to seek accountability for the funds allocated to the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam project in the Upper East Region.
John Jinapor, addressing journalists at the site in the Talensi District, criticized the lack of progress on the project, initially promised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Despite the [Pwalugu Dam] project’s 2019 commencement, which envisioned a hydro-solar hybrid system with 60 MW of hydropower and 50 MW of solar power to be completed by mid-2024, there has been no visible development. Mr Jinapor highlighted that approximately $12 million had already been spent with no results, and the contractor is currently untraceable. Parts of the site have even been repurposed for farming by locals.
“We will activate all parliamentary processes to retrieve the nearly 200 million cedis handed to this contractor. Someone must be held accountable. $12 million can significantly impact this country. We’ll use every legitimate and legal means to recover the money and penalize those responsible for this financial crime and loss to the state,” Jinapor asserted.
The project, valued at $993 million, was inaugurated by President Akufo-Addo in November 2019. Recently, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) responded to inquiries regarding the $12 million payment to MS Power China International Group Limited.
Lawmakers had questioned the disbursement of funds without evident progress on the project.
The BoG clarified that it had adhered to proper procedures by releasing the funds upon government authorization and stressed that verifying project advancements post-payment was beyond its remit.
