General News of Monday, 13 June 2016

Source: ultimate1069.com

MPs not aware of cost of Komenda Sugar factory revamping - Bonsu

Komenda Sugar Factory Komenda Sugar Factory

The Minority Leader in Parliament Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has revealed that the country’s legislators are yet to be briefed on how much was actually used in revamping the defunct Komenda Sugar factory in the Central Region.

According to him, the issue has not been tabled before the house for deliberation and no member is aware of how much of the thirty-five million dollar Indian Exim Bank loan was sunk into the project.

“Parliament is not aware of how much was spent on the project. We have not been told because the speaker is the only person who can allow for such questions to be asked to elicit the needed response but he has not done that”, he revealed to Lantam Papnko on the Ultimate Breakfast Show.

Government in the last couple of weeks has come under attack from various political actors and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for the controversy surrounding the project which is expected to produce 150,000metric tones of sugar per year, and 1.0MW surplus power from the factory waste.

There have been reports of a temporal shut down of the facility to pave way for renovation works less than a week after commissioning which is said to have further angered a section of the citizenry.

In the wake of these concerns, the Minority Leader maintains that Parliament is not aware of the exact financial commitment to the project indicating that certain factors would have been taken into consideration before MPs give their blessing to the rebirth of the project.