A team of technocrats from the Social Investment Fund (SIF) have inspected a GHc 1.324 million renovated office structure belonging to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tamale.
The renovation project solely funded by the Africa Development Bank (ADB) with technical support from the SIF and the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL) is part of a three-million dollar allocated to the GNA under the Post Covid-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project (PSDPEP).
The PSDPEP, is a $24 million initiative funded by the African Development Bank, towards revitalising Ghana’s economy.
The team was impressed by the rate of speed the construction firm was delivering the project ahead of the timelines, and the quality of work that was ongoing at the site.
Renovation works at the GNA office in Tamale for now, includes replacing louvre blades with sliding windows, re-roofing of the entire structure, changing of tiles from PVC to ceramic, rewiring of electrical systems, provision of new water, sewerage and plumbing systems as well as painting to give the place a major phase lift.
Other structural enhancement projects which include wall fencing and the development of stores to boost income generation and serve the sustainability drive for the Agency are under consideration by ADB and partners.
The structure since its construction about 50 years ago has never seen any major renovation. This gift from the Africa Development Bank, thus, is considered a bigger relief to Management and staff of the Agency and a step to maximising efficiency and improving productivity.
The team members from the SIF comprised Dr Kwaku Agbesi, Procurement Specialist, and Engineer assigned to the project, Mr MacDonald Acquah, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Ms Franklina Lamptey, Gender Specialist, Mrs Hannah Tenkorang, Internal Auditor, and Ms Abigail Agyemang, an Assistant Budget Analyst at the Ministry of Finance
At a brief meeting after the inspection of the construction work, the team directed the contractor, SB Blessed Company Limited, to put some finishing touches to some few corrections on the project.
The team made some recommendations and directed the construction firm to ensure that those recommendations were followed.
Key among the recommendations were the fixing of water issues to include possible construction of a rainwater harvesting system, the possible construction of a borehole, cleaning up of the premises for commissioning and additional mango tree to support greening the premises.
Mr Wilfred Bobi, an official of AESL who led the team on the inspection indicated that the contractor had covered about 98 percent of the project.
Ms Franklina Lamptey, Gender Specialist, was happy about the contractor’s ability to provide mainstream gender responsive facilities into the project and recommended the provision of a disability friendly facility to the Manager’s office.
The renovation works for the Agency is a big relief that seeks to give a general structural phase lift geared towards improvement in the structural and human resource base of the Agency.
The Agency for its part is expected to develop audio visual content for effective public health communication, encourage private-sector growth, climate change and sustainable development and gender advocacy and mainstreaming through its media role.
The GNA was selected for the project because of the vital role it plays in telling the nation’s story with credibility and professionalism.
The project focuses on enhancing health sector, promoting gender parity, supporting women’s empowerment and addressing climate related issues, and it is expected to reflect the Agency’s overall objective of information dissemination, education and entertainment.
GNA
