In order to avoid adding to the financial burden on the Ghanaian taxpayer, the Minority Caucus in Parliament has urged the government to immediately cancel the National Cathedral project.
Its addition on March 14, 2023, marked precisely a year after the major contractor working on the project abandoned the site, and hence efforts must be made to offset the growing cost.
It further said that the project would still place an additional financial burden on the Ghanaian taxpayer so long as the contractors, RIBADE Construction Ltd and David Adjaye and Associates, maintained valid contracts.
According to our calculations, the termination of this contract by the Akufo-Addo administration will cost the Ghanaian taxpayers more than $1 billion.
Insane dream
The North Tongue Member of Parliament (MP), Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said in a press conference yesterday that the project "remains a pipe dream, an unfeasible endeavor, particularly considering our economic situation, and it is time to totally abandon the project because it cannot be completed as scheduled."
It's time for President Akufo-Addo and the remaining members of the National Cathedral Board of Trustee to realize that this project is still a castle in the air, he said. "The contractors have stated in the termination letters that they could no longer continue the project due to the lack of payment from the Government of Ghana."
project agreement
What's even more concerning, according to Mr. Ablakwa, is that the Minority Caucus referred to the contract between the Ghanaian government, the National Cathedral of Ghana, and the principal contractors.
According to him, the agreement demonstrated that the contractors still had legitimate contract paperwork, which showed that even if the project was still on hold, it still placed expenses on "the already squeezing taxpayer."
We urge that the government cancel the contract with RIBADE and David Adjaye and the Association on the first anniversary of the contractors leaving the site, he added.
Project structure
Ghanaians should be aware that the cathedral project would cost more than $1 billion, according to Mr. Ablakwa.
"Ignore earlier costs of $400 million and $350 million because those sums do not take into account the exclusions in the agreement, such as the cost of abortive and reworks, the standing time's claims, professional fees, savings on import duties, the escalation of construction due to COVID-19 and global inflation, an extension of time claims, and cost implications," he said.
He further stated that the seven significant buildings that had to be torn down to make space for the cathedral's construction would need to be replaced at an additional expense to the Ghanaian tax payer.
The Chief Justice had proposed spending $50 million to rebuild the structures, which he identified as the Scholarship Secretariat, Passport Office, judges' bungalows, the Malian Ambassador's home, and the Judicial Training Institute.
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