Naa Norley
24 September 2008
An Arab multilateral organization, which is funding a lot of development projects in Ghana, has initiated a program to quicken the pace of work on their projects in Ghana.
The Korle Lagoon dredging and beautification project, launched some ten years ago, is one of such projects which the Arab group is taking steps to salvage. The program, known as "PROMIS" (Project Management Information System), is a database that has been created on all projects being funded by the Arab group, comprising the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab Bank for United Nations Development Organization, Arab Monetary Fund and Islamic Development Bank.
The other multilaterals in the group are the Kuwait Funds for Arab Economic Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Saudi Fund for Development.
The new program provides all the necessary information, on all projects being funded by the group, in the database, which is accessible on the internet, so that all stakeholders can monitor the progress of work.
Launching the program, the Assistant Director General of Operations Management at the OPEC Fund, leader of the delegation, Mr. Said Aissi, who was in the country recently to attend the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, said the group was seeking transparency in the projects they fund.
"We do not impose projects on beneficiary countries," he said. "The countries come to us with their own proposals, but what we seek, is for the projects to benefit their citizens, and must be approved by Parliament," he added.
He cautioned that the group did not seek political interests in their work, but the economic interests of the countries that benefit from their aid.
An Economist at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Felix Nelson Amoako, who deputized for the Deputy Minister, Prof. George Gyan Baffuor, lauded the new program saying the delay in the completion of projects, cost the government of Ghana dearly, since it was being made to pay interests on delay payments.
He praised the OPEC Fund for funding the Korle Lagoon Rehabilitation Project, and many others in the country, and asked them to continue to assist Ghana on her road to development.
He said by coming out with the new monitoring system, the Arab Group had shown that it recognised the problems and challenges faced by Ghana in implementing the projects.
The new system allows not only the public, but civil society organisations and all interested groups to approve projects, and it also provides a common procedure and guidelines for the coordinating groups to monitor the projects.
The group on Monday afternoon paid a visit to the Korle Lagoon Project site, to acquaint themselves with the state of affairs on the project.
They expressed the hope that with the "PROMIS" system, monitoring of work on the project would be expedited.
"It is the absence of such a central monitoring system, that has delayed the completion of the job," said one leader of the group.
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