The $393 million Ningo-Prampram Coastal Protection Project has at least 50% of its work done.
It entails the erection of 24 groins, each 200 meters apart, along the community's five-kilometer-long beachfront.
Bridge Global is completing the project, which was given a contract in October 2019 and is slated to be finished in October 2023.
When members of Parliament's Select Committee on Works and Housing visited the project site in Ningo-Prampram to assess the status of construction, Bridge Global's Project Manager, Osei Sarpong, informed them of this.
The committee, chaired by Vincent Oppong Asamoah, the committee's Ranking Member, would suggest to Parliament and the Minister of Works and Housing if required, interventions to expedite the process.
Project evaluation
Mr. Sarpong told the committee that after assessing an early proposal to build 50 groins 100 meters apart for the same span, 24 groins were being built 200 meters apart over the five-kilometer route.
"So, instead of 50 groins, we built 24 groins for the same price," he explained. According to him, the business is presently working on the project's 24th groin, as directed by the project consultant.
"We're waiting for instructions to start the second half of the project." We need the training as soon as possible since we have idle equipment right now," he explained.
Apart from defending the beach and the people's livelihood, Mr. Sarpong said is also part of the initiative. 30 locals have been hired, primarily as equipment operators.
"The project was successful.
Some of the property was under great threat from tidal waves before we started, but the shoreline has remained rather steady since then," he added.
The contractors' major concern, according to Mr. Sarpong, is funding flow from the government, with sand-winning along the region and open defecation being further issues.
"It's not the greatest if we spend all this money and people do bad things," he remarked.
Funds
The committee's Ranking Member encouraged the government to pay the contractor as soon as possible to guarantee the project's flawless implementation. He voiced concern about the contractor's payment delays.