The Ghana Institute of Architects has stated that it does not have any qualms with the government over the number of architects contracted to work on the Agenda 111 project, but the processes employed in appointing them.
The government has been under fire after news broke that it contracted renowned architect David Adjaye and a few others for the design of hospitals under agenda 111 via sole sourcing.
The architects accused the government of ignoring the procurement processes required in awarding the contract.
But in a response, an influential member of the ruling party Gabby Asare Otchere Darko said other contractors were equally engaged.
“Government first procured the services of Hospital Infrastructure Group Ltd, owned by the highly respected Kwabena Nyarko, former Vice President of GREDA, to coordinate the single largest health infrastructure project ever commissioned in Ghana, the Agenda 111 project, working closely with the Ministry of Health.
“HIG engaged the services of some key architects, engineers, surveyors, etc, to deliver on this important mandate. HIG’s job is to let all the district hospitals be designed and built by Ghanaians, using as much as possible local materials, and to do so at a cost far lower than we are used to paying.
“David Adjaye’s Adjaye Associates was just one of such reputable firms used. His specific design job was to come out with a standard design for a district hospital. He has delivered a world-class standard design and at $17 million per hospital. A district hospital normally costs between $30-35 million, built and fitted. So the ones under Agenda 111 is essential: “Buy 1 Get 1 Free!”,” Gabby wrote on Facebook.
But speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday, Secretary of the Ghana Institute of Architects Augustus Richardson said “the number of architects does not matter at all. We are talking about the procurement process. This is not proper and if we don’t do the right thing, posterity will judge us. What if a new government comes in and decides to do the same thing what will we say?
“The Institute of Architecture is asking for a proper procedure. You just don’t handpick people.”
He added “we are taking a proper process in securing what the process was. If the procurement process was sidestepped, then it ought to be corrected. We are taking proper process in securing what the process was. If the procurement process was sidestepped, then it ought to be corrected.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM