Govt to suspend 60 major projects; 3m jobs to be lost – Agbodza alleges

The Minority in Parliament has alleged that the government is set to either cancel or suspend sixty ongoing projects across the country as part of measures to execute its domestic debt exchange programme.

Ken Ofori-Atta in the 2023 budget, announced a halt in capital projects in line with revenue rationalisation measures.

Speaking to journalists, the Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza said the suspension of the projects would lead to about 3 million job losses hence the need for the government to be transparent about the conditions of the IMF deal.

Mr. Agbodza told the Parliamentary Press Corps, “as we sit here, a series of meetings have taken place with a close group of people in the NPP where about sixty projects and programmes are going to either be suspended or cancelled. These projects include the Obetsebi Lamptey road extension, the La and Shama General Hospital projects, the Tema Motorway Road project, and the Adomi Bridge project.”

He also alleged that the government had made some payments to some of the contractors without the necessary green light to kickstart these projects.

“You will be surprised this government paid some of the developers 15 percent to 20 percent mobilization fees and the contractors are sitting in their offices drinking tea because the government is unable to tell them whether to go ahead because the Finance Minister basically asked them to suspend all those projects and we are currently losing value because the contractors have taken the money and no work is currently going on.”

He also demanded transparency in the selection of these projects for either suspension or cancellation.

“What are the underlying principles of the selection of the projects the NPP wants to cancel, suspend or go ahead with? We all have to have an understanding of this because the lack of understanding creates anxiety.”

“There are financiers, developers, sub-developers, contractors, suppliers, and ordinary workers with these entities who will lose their jobs permanently and I project that this may lead to three million job losses,” he further stressed.