Government has defended its decision to change the contractor for the implementation of the Accra Intelligent Traffic Management Project.
Speaking to Citi Business News, Chairman of the Defense and Interior Committee of Parliament, Seth Acheampong, indicated that government did not agree with the conditionality in the previous contract hence the decision to terminate it.
He stated that, “the Attorney General cleared that the administration could move on and sign on Huawei Technology because the people who are offering us the facility, the Chinese, have some conditions and the conditionality is to use a Chinese company and lo and behold we in Ghana had a Chinese vendor plying the trade here who was mobilized, Beijing Everyway. We don’t know their office in Ghana. We asked the National Communication Authority (NCA) to check because to deploy this in the country, you need a permit and a license from the NCA. They haven’t asked for any of such from them. We’ve done due diligence on them, so I’m not perturbed over anything. My information which is authentic from the Public Procurement Authority who allowed the ministry in the name of the Republic of Ghana to contract the new vendor Huawei authorized and cleared this transaction to go on and went further to intimate and state that the Ministry of Roads and Highways should terminate the contract with Beijing Everyway.”
Beijing Everyway Traffic and Lighting Technology Company Limited, was previously contracted in 2018 to implement the Accra Metropolitan Area ICT-Enhanced Traffic Management Project.
The implementation agency for the project was the Ministry of Roads and Highways.
But on Friday the Bill was re-laid before Parliament and passed on Saturday under a certificate of urgency.
But, this time with a contract agreement which is between the Government of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of National Security, Huawei Technologies Company Limited and the China National Import and Export Corporation.
Management of the Beijing Everyway Traffic and Lighting Technology Company Limited have hinted that it will file a suit against the Ghana Government in the London court of international arbitration.
Background
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Roads and Highways began the implementation of the Accra Areawide Traffic Intelligent System to help reduce traffic congestion in the capital city.
The system relies on a coordinated traffic signal system with digitised traffic lights and a centralised control centre where all traffic signals will be monitored and controlled to improve traffic flow, trip reliability and road safety.
This means that all traffic lights across the city, including the newly deployed ones with artificial intelligence capabilities, will be managed from a Traffic Management Centre, where traffic on vital corridors and intersections in the city will be examined.
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwesi Amoako-Atta, inaugurated two of the areawide traffic intelligent systems in Accra on February 2020.
They were the Kanda Highway/Castle Road and the Starlet 91/Nationalism Park (close to the Accra Stadium) traffic lights. Mr Amoako-Atta said the project was being implemented in two phases.
He said the first phase, which includes the operationalisation of 44 signalised intersections on the Amasaman/central business district of Accra corridor and the construction of the Traffic Management Centre, was completed in July 2019.
The second phase would include the completion of 253 signalised and non-signalised intersections within the city, he added.
However, Management of Beijing Everyway says this move by government to terminate and re-award the contract will gravely affect international investor confidence in Ghana.
