Parliament ratifies 2 loan agreements

Two loan agreements have been approved by Parliament to finance proposed Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development Project (GARID) and Integrated National Security Communication Enhancement Network (ALPHA). 

While the GARID was procured from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank for an amount of 200million dollars, the ALPHA was loaned from Huawei Technologies Company Limited and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to the tune of US$234,604,266 million.

Presenting the agreement on the floor of the Parliament yesterday, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of Finance Committee of Parliament, said the GARID project was to improve flood risk management and solid waste management in the Odaw River Basin in Accra and improve access to basic infrastructure and services in the targeted communities within the basin. 

He said GARID had been designed to address the perennial flooding in Accra and improve the livelihood of the people in the area. 

Mr Assibey-Yeboah said the project had been structured into five components with the first component covering climate resilient drainage measures costing US$92m, while the second component would cost US$42.2m to deal with solid waste management capacity improvements. 

He said the third component which would cost US$58.8m, would deal with participatory upgrading of targeted flood prone low-income communities.

The fourth component would cost US$7million to deal with the project management while the fifth component would be at no cost for contingent emergency response. 

He said some of the expected benefits from the project included improved basic infrastructure and services in targeted communities among others. 

In the case of GARID, the Chairman of the Committee on Defense and Interior, Seth Kwame Acheampong, said the ALPHA was to enhance and integrate national security communication network in the country. 

He explained the scope of the work to involve the expansion of video monitoring system, microwave transmission and video transmission network among many others. 

Mr Acheampong said the project was relevant in the face of recent spate of terrorist attacks in the sub-region and the increased crime and crime sophistication.

BY Lawrence Markwei