Wee smokers have taken over abandoned toilet facilities that were being constructed by Ghana First Company in partnership with the government three years ago.
The abandoned projects in Koforidua the Eastern Regional Capital have become a haven for criminals who smoke and engage in sexual activities in the facilities.
Ghana First Company Limited [GhFCL], a waste management firm owned by Mr. Frank Akulley, with its German partners signed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with the Government of Ghana in 2018 through the Local Government Ministry and the Sanitation Ministry to construct 20,000 units of modern automated toilet facilities across all Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts across the country at cost of $300,000,000.
Subsequently, the company awarded the first batch of 2000 toilet facilities on contract in 2018 across the country but the contractors abandoned the project at various levels of completion after the company failed to pay them.
The situation has collapsed businesses of the contractors having sunk huge sums of money into the projects.
Properties of some of the contractors have been auctioned by their bankers for defaulting loan payments.
The aggrieved contractors have accused the government of absolving itself from the project when it backfired therefore shocked that it has been captured in the list of government infrastructure achievements.
“Almost 70% of the projects mentioned are all our projects. if you see any project titled ongoing modern 16 seater, 20 seater, or 14 seater or ongoing Ghana First Toilet all these projects are all our projects so we don’t understand why Government will go and hide and then come back later to say the projects are his hence can’t pay us” Yaw Tawiah Dickson, Public Relations Officer of the aggrieved First Ghana Contractors Association stated.
Atiemo Listowel -General Secretary of the Association said they had developed a business plan to look for investors to take over the project as financial burdens continue to claim lives of their members however appealing to the government to take full responsibility to pay them to enable the completion of the projects so that the over 1500 affected Communities across the country get proper places of convenience.
Meanwhile, residents in many of the affected Communities in the Eastern Region have been engaging in open defecation for the past three years as completion of the project remains a mirage.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
