96% of Projects in Ghana Experience Cost Overruns – Bright Simons
Policy Analyst and Vice President of IMANI Ghana, Bright Simons, has disclosed that over 96% of projects in Ghana suffer from cost overruns, citing the National Cathedral, the Pwalugu Dam, and the new Bank of Ghana (BoG) headquarters as key examples.
Speaking at an event organized by the Project Management Institute Ghana (PMIG) on the theme “Can Project Managers & Policy Analysts Jointly Save Ghana From Bankruptcy?”, Mr. Simons used a cost-benefit analysis model to highlight inefficiencies in the execution of public projects.
He revealed that the cost of completing the National Cathedral project has risen to an estimated $1.2 billion, with $400 million already spent.
Similarly, he noted that nearly $100 million has been spent on the Pwalugu Dam project, yet no visible construction has commenced, despite the project’s total estimated cost of $900 million.
On the controversial new BoG headquarters, Mr. Simons pointed out that the project’s initial cost projection of $80 million had ballooned to $280 million, for which the newly sworn-in Governor, Dr. Johnson Asiama, is expected to appear before Parliament on March 5, 2025, to explain the cost escalation.
Addressing the media on the sidelines of the event, PMIG President Frant Asamoah attributed the persistent challenges in project execution to political interference.
“We have always known that not all projects are being run well in this country, obviously due to the heavy political interferences in our public projects, and we have always sought to provide solutions to how some of these things could be done right.
“But as a professional body, we will never get tired. We will not stop talking, we will keep on talking and keep engaging the government so that we will be able to bring our expertise to bear. Many of the projects we have in Ghana here are fraught with cost overruns, time overruns, and in some cases, very feeble sources of income to fund such projects.
“As a professional body, we do have the expertise, and we do hope that one day the government will sit down with us and that we will be able to proffer solutions to these challenges,” he stated.
The event underscored the need for improved project management practices to curb financial mismanagement and enhance the efficiency of public expenditure.
Does it mean before embarking on these projects there are no projects evaluations and projects costs and projects variations costs to unravel these messes. If these projects were to be their own, would they pump such quantum of moneys into it . imagine from $80 million to $ 240 million what at all could make a project variations costs balloon to that differential. It is serious .