Minister for Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has pleaded with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament to write off 165,000 Euros ($194,342.78) as bad debt from the books of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).
According to the 2017 audit report by the Auditor-General, the GPHA in 2011 entered into an agreement with an offshore company known as Scheepsbouw Noord for the construction and delivery of a Pilot Launch Boat.
GPHA subsequently paid 165,000 Euros out of the total contract sum of 1.1 million Euros, but the company for the past nine years has failed to honour its part of the contract.
Appearing before PAC on Wednesday, the sector Minister said the German agent, who served as a consultant for the construction and delivery of the Pilot Launch Boat, is dead and efforts to trace his associates have been unsuccessful.
Mr Asiamah further noted that the Ministry had spent lots of monies on travels and other expenses to retrieve the money.
Responding to the Minister’s request, Chairman of PAC, James Kluste Avedzi, ordered the Ministry and GPHA to furnish the committee with all the expenses made as part of efforts to retrieve the monies from the company to inform their decision on the subject matter.
