In his view, the Akufo-Addo government has been reckless in spending the resources that have come to its disposal since assuming office.

Citing the recent issues surrounding the Bank of Ghana’s new head office building currently under construction, the former Deputy Information Minister said the government deliberately inflated the cost of the project.

In a tweet on Wednesday, August 23, Mr Ablakwa said the opposition to the new tax is justified and that it should be abolished immediately. 

“It is no longer difficult to appreciate why Ghanaians get so angry & extremely agitated when govt introduces new taxes. How can you recklessly inflate the BoG office project from $81.8 million to US$222.7 million in two years and expect the youth to accept your obnoxious tax on betting?” he tweeted.

It is no longer difficult to appreciate why Ghanaians get so angry & extremely agitated when govt introduces new taxes

How can you recklessly inflate the BoG office project from US$81.8million to US$222.7million in 2yrs & expect the youth to accept your obnoxious tax on betting?

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) August 23, 2023

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Tuesday, August 15, commenced the implementation of a 10% withholding tax on all gross gaming winnings.

According to the GRA, the withholding tax will be charged on profits accrued after each win and the existing 15% Value Added Tax rate on each stake will no longer be charged.

The GRA said that the new policy is in line with an amendment to the Income Tax Act 2023 (No.2), Act 1094.

Following this, the Youth Wing of the NDC has asked the government to immediately abolish it. 

According to them, the “insensitive policy” will worsen the plight of the already impoverished youths.

In a press statement issued by the National Youth Organiser of the party, George Opare Addo, the NDC Youth Wing threatened series of protests at the Ministry of Finance and other government offices across the country should the government fail to abolish the tax.

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It said a structural integrity test conducted on its building revealed that the edifice was not fit for purpose.

There has been growing pressure on the Central Bank to come clean on the processes involved in the acquisition of the land for the construction of the new headquarters building, as well as the names of consultants and project managers, plus financing arrangements for the construction of and the cost, scope of works, bill of quantities and contract start and completion dates of the headquarters.

Below are details as presented by the Bank of Ghana:

Background

In the 1990s, the Bank of Ghana began the search for adequate and secured land for a new Head Office, given that the Central Business District had caught up with the existing Head Office and the need to expand to meet its growing operations.

i. In 2011, the Board of Directors of the bank agreed that the Bank must consider looking for suitable land for the new headquarters.

ii. In 2012, the Bank was allocated an 5.19-acre land at Accra Central by the Lands Commission, and a total of GHS 791,580.00 was paid.

The Bank, however, was not given access to the land as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration refused to grant the Bank vacant possession on the grounds that they had never agreed to give up ownership of the land.

iii. Several offers were made to the Bank between 2012 and 2016 including parcels of land near the Ridge Hospital, Airport City, around 37 Military Hospital, Achimota Forest, among others. Due diligence made on these plots indicated that they were either encumbered, had unfavourable terms or that these lands were not suitable for the Bank’s purpose.

iv. The requirement for land for the new Headquarters became urgent when the structural failure on the existing Head Office became pronounced with more serious cracks showing on the building and portions of the structure falling off.

Having been apprised of the nature of the Head Office building on Thorpe Road through a Condition Survey by the Estate Office, the Bank commissioned ESPCo, a third-party Engineering Firm to undertake a Structural Integrity Audit of the facility, which revealed that the current Bank of Ghana Head Office, built by the Nkrumah Government in the late 1950s, was no longer fit for purpose and could not withstand any major earth tremors.

v. The Board of the Bank at its 662nd Regular Meeting directed the Corporate Management and Services Department (CMSD) of the Bank by a decision dated 18th December 2019 to initiate all proper processes for the development of a New Corporate Headquarters for the Bank.

vi. Subsequently, the Bank went through the required processes to acquire a parcel of land at West Ridge, which was previously owned by the State Insurance Company (SIC). The land was compulsorily acquired by the Government of Ghana by Executive Instrument, 2020 E.I 304 for the New Bank of Ghana Headquarters, a building of national interest. The compulsory acquisition process started in 2019 and the Executive Instrument was published and gazetted in 2020.

Approval from Public Procurement Authority

• The need to procure a highly complex Central Bank accommodation meeting national security considerations, as well as the Bank’s highly classified information security needs, informed the selection of the firms. The Bank wrote to the PPA on 14th January 2020, for approval to use the Restricted Tender Method. This procurement method was on the basis of national security considerations. The following firms, known to be operating in Ghana, were shortlisted:
  MAN Enterprise

WBHO Ghana Ltd

Simone Ltd

Goldkey Properties Ltd

Ronesans Construction

• Ronesans Construction, though not wholly Ghanaian, had partnered with David Walter Limited a local partner, during the tendering process.
• The PPA by a letter dated 29th January 2020 conveyed the Board’s approval to the Bank of Ghana. This approval to use the shortlisted contractors for the Restricted Tender also revised downward the estimated cost of the project from USD100,857,942.48 to USD81,882,640.00 without any justification.

Solicitation of Tenders

• Invitation letters to the Tenderers with the Request for Proposal (RFP) documents were issued to shortlisted firms on February 21, 2020.
• A Pre-Bid Conference for Tenderers was held on 19th March 2020.
• The RFP was reviewed after the initial pre-bid conference and re-issued on May 4, 2020, to the Tenderers.
• Tender submission was revised to 5th June 2020 with another pre-bid conference held on 13th May 2020.
• In view of the COVID-19 restrictions, the Bank by a letter dated 22nd May 2020 issued addenda and revised the deadline for tender submission to 19th June 2020.
• Tenders were opened on 19th June 2020 at 11am in the presence of all relevant stakeholders and Tenderers who chose to be present.
• The tenders were evaluated between 6th – 17th July 2020.

Approvals

• After evaluation of tenders were received, the Entity Tender Committee (ETC) of the Bank at its meeting held on 6th August 2020 considered Tender Evaluation Panel’s recommendation and approved the award of contract for the project to Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited at the cost of $121,078,517.94, the least cost evaluated bid, under Turnkey (Design and Build) contract arrangements.
• The ETC further directed for concurrent approval to be sought from the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) of the Ministry of Finance.
• The PPA in a response to the Bank’s letter dated 31st August 2020 reviewed the initial PPA approved estimated amount from USD81,882,640.00 to USD121,078,517.94.
• The CTRC on 4th September 2020 granted concurrent approval to the Bank to engage the recommended Tenderer, Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited at a contract price of USD121,078,517.94 under Turnkey (Design and Build) contract arrangements, which was the least evaluated bid.

Contract Award

• After a series of pre-contract meetings on contract agreements, the Bank signed a contract with the Contractor on 26th November 2020 for the Construction of a Corporate Headquarters for the Bank via Turnkey in 30 months (6 months for design, 24 months for construction).

Commencement of Project

• The project site was formally handed over to the Contractor in March 2021 for commencement of preliminary site works and designs.

Engagement of Employer’s Representative

• The Bank’s search on all iconic projects at the time such as the KIA Terminal 3, SU Towers, Ecobank Head Office, Standard Chartered Head Office, Cal Bank Building, MTN Head Office, 335 Place and other emerging projects such as the ABSA Bank Building pointed in the direction of several firms, some of which were not based in Ghana, others which had local representatives and some local experts.
• The following were invited to express interest in leading the Bank’s project in the area of project management commensurate with the level of complexity of the Bank’s building:
• Profica
• GHC Africa
• Diagonal
• DAR
• AECOM
• MULTICAD

Following a scrutiny of their profiles, the Bank settled on MULTICAD, a Ghanaian consultancy firm which had partnered other consultants in all the identified projects.

In July 2021 the Bank invited a proposal from MULTICAD to be considered for single source based on the following:

• Demonstrable experience and association in managing projects of similar nature; Fidelity Bank Head Office Annex, the Octagon, Standard Chartered Bank Head Office, Accra Mall, Kumasi City Mall, Achimota Mall, SU Tower, 335 Place, Oxford Street Mall, Tulip Inn and others.
• Technical team of experts in the fields of Engineering, Cost Management, Building Information Modeling (BIM), ICT, Health, Safety & Environmental Impact (HSE).
• MULTICAD’s profile, which also includes details of its company registration, were scrutinized and same submitted to PPA for review.

In addition to MULTICAD’s outstanding project portfolio, the main consideration for adopting the single source was hinged on Section 40 (f) of the PPA: “where the procurement entity applies this Act for Procurement that concerns national security and determines that single source procurement is the most appropriate method of procurement.”

• MULTICAD is numbered in the topmost tier of Architecture and Multi-Disciplinary Consulting Firms in Ghana, in rigorous practice for more than 29 years. MULTICAD’s registration date, boldly cited on its RGD Certificate is 11th July 1994. A re-registration was done on 10th December 2021.
• MULTICAD’s vast portfolio of diverse projects is primarily focused on the commercial and industrial sectors with a well-known reputation for handling projects other firms are incapable or unwilling to take on. The firm’s portfolio ranges from humble tasks through shopping malls and offices to midtown and peri-urban satellite cities. The firm has been involved in most large commercial retail projects and most notable Grade “A” office buildings executed in the country.
• MULTICAD was adjudged uniquely qualified in its knowledge of the larger cultural context of the local design and execution environment and its depth of knowledge of the statutory context and having been partners in design and execution of several notable buildings afforded the Bank de-risked fluent Project Design Management and Construction oversight.
• A consultancy fee of 3.36% of the contract sum (translating into USD3,450,417.00) was negotiated, mindful of the Ministry of Works & Housing’s recommended threshold of 16.5%. MULTICAD, has since their engagement, lived up to expectations by adequately representing the Bank’s interest in delivering the project.

Design and Cost Reviews

The initial design proposals projected a gross floor area of 73,000 sq.m with the following details:
 25-storey Tower Block

 4-storey car parking facility,

 2 level basements

 Auditorium.

The need to reconfigure the spatial requirements in order to meet all relevant statutory requirements and functionality of the building resulted in modification of the initial design concept to the current gross floor area in excess of 100,000sq.m.

The project consists of three main blocks namely the Tower, Urban and Amenities Blocks including basements, podium and ancillary facilities.

• Tower Block – 20-Storey Tower Block
• Urban Block – 8-Storey Urban Block
• Amenities Block – 6-Storey Amenities Block
• Podium – Upper Ground
• Podium –Lower Ground
• Basements – Three (3) level basement car parking areas
• Ancillary facilities
• Energy Farm
• Treatment plants
• Security Gate Houses

Key Design Considerations:

• In addition to meeting the requirements of all relevant building codes, the building has incorporated Sustainable Design Concepts, such as energy conservation, water conservation, material selection, recycling and reuse of waste (liquid and solid), humane adaptation, etc.
• The design satisfies the EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) green standard. Minimum certification shall be EDGE

Advanced

• The Design’s innovative damping design approach adopted ensures Seismic and wind loads are to be resisted.
• The building’s design deploys a Building Management System (BMS) to monitor key energy and utility infrastructure.
• The ETC of the Bank at its meeting held on 19th December 2022 considered and approved the design review and revised project cost of USD2,068.00/m2. This figure compares favourably with data from the Africa Property & Construction Cost Guide 2021/22 (USD2,658/m2) and 2022/23 (USD2,720.00/m2) as average construction costs for Prestige High Rise Office spaces in Africa.
• Even though the comparable data from the Africa Property & Construction Cost Guide relates to Prestige High Rise Office spaces, the unique features of a Central Bank (including vaults and security installations) rank higher than the considerations for the former. This makes the figure for the Bank’s building more competitive.
• CTRC subsequently granted concurrent approval for the revised scope of works at cost of USD2,068.00/m2 on 17th January 2023.
• The Bank was guided by all legal requirements in going through all the processes from inception to its current state. All internal due diligence protocols were strictly adhered to.

Current Project Progress Update

Currently, physical progress on site stands at 41% and is summarized as follows: Tower Block

Up to 13th Floor slab casting is complete. Urban Block

Upper Roof Slab casting completed. Amenities (Auditorium) Block

Upper Ground slab Casting completed.

 Other works

Internal blockwork ongoing at various levels in both Tower and

Urban blocks.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) first fixes ongoing at

various levels

The Project is expected to be completed in September 2024.

Dr Addison said the new building will have some sensitive features which the current head office building does not have. 

These features according to him, will include data centres, currency processing centres and more.

Addressing the media on Monday, August 21, the Governor said the new building is designed to meet a modern day head office of a central bank as compared to those in Abuja and Dakar. 

“The Bank then began to plan the building of its new head office taking into consideration the need to ensure that the building meets all the requirements of a modern central bank of international standards similar to central bank head office buildings in Abuja and Dakar and include provision for data centres, currency processing centres, volts and other sensitive installations, so it is not just a simple ordinary building.”

Dr Addison also insisted that the central bank followed all procurement processes in the country and did not breach any law in this endeavor. 

“Let me reemphasize that the Bank followed all the necessary procurement processes in this endeavor,” he said. 

He also explained that processes for the new head office commenced in the 1990s, discrediting arguments that the bank was investing in such a project at a time the country was in financial difficulties.

According to him, these processes preceded his tenure as the central bank’s governor. 

“The Bank of Ghana as far back as 1990s began search for a suitable and secured land for a head office. In 2012, the bank was allocated an unnumbered 5.19 acre land at Accra Central by the Lands Commission which also had issues.”

“The Bank did not have access to the land since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration refused to give to give the Bank vacant possession on the grounds that they had never agreed to give up ownership of the land, but the Bank continued to search for a new land for its head office since 2013 to 2016.”

“More recently, in 2018, the Bank approached the State Insurance Cooperation (SIC) to acquire its vacant land at Ridge near the Ridge Hospital.”

“The government issued an Executive Instrument to allow the Bank of Ghana acquire that land and the SIC was duly compensated.”

The Minority in Parliament at a press conference on Tuesday, August 8, disclosed cost of the central bank’s new head office under construction. 

Its Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said the bank spending a whopping $250 million dollar to build a head office in the current economic crisis was untenable. 

It has thus demanded the resignation of the BoG Governor and his two deputies for the GHS60 billion loss the bank incurred in 2022.

But the Governor has explained that the losses were not occasioned by mismanagement but largely by the government through its initiatives like the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, DDEP and other factors.

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According to him, the new Bank of Ghana head office, when completed, will give the country a “greater chance” of being selected as the headquarters for ECOWAS’ new currency, the ECO. 

In an interview with Angel FM, the Suame legislator said when this is achieved, it will boost economic growth in Ghana. 

“For a long time, ECOWAS has wanted to use a common currency, which is ECO. The West African countries are considering two countries that can serve as Headquarters for the ECO, a bank to be responsible for that, and they will place under the central bank of that country.

“So far there three countries Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana being considered to host it but Ghana has a greater chance.”

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s justification comes after the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)‘s criticism of the central bank for embarking on such a project.

The NDC at a press conference on August 8, also accused the management of the Bank of Ghana of gross mismanagement and recklessness over the past years..

The party thus threatened to march to the premises of BoG to drag the governor and his deputies from office if they fail to resign within 21 days.

However, in a press release on Tuesday, August 9, the central bank explained that “The outcome of the structural integrity work was that the main building does not satisfy the full complement of excess strength required for a building to be considered safe for usage.

“This means that in the case of a worst-case gravity and wind loading scenario, for example, unusually strong wind, the building may be significantly affected.”

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Dr Forson categorically denied these allegations, labelling them as entirely false.

He has called on all well-intentioned Ghanaians to disregard them. 

In a press statement released on Saturday, August 12, the former Deputy Finance Minister maintained that during the Mahama administration, no contracts were awarded for the construction of a new BoG head office.

He challenged the NPP’s Director of Communications, Mr Ahiagbah, to produce any substantiating evidence in his possession to support the claims.

Dr Forson stated, “For the records, the Bank of Ghana under the erstwhile Mahama/NDC administration never awarded a contract for the construction of this new Head Office.”

He continued, “We, therefore, challenge the likes of Ahiagbah and his NPP apologists to show evidence to the contrary if they have any. Second, the Bank of Ghana never purchased land anywhere in Accra for the construction of a new Head Office building.”

Dr Forson insisted that the new BoG head office project was unnecessary and urged the central bank to terminate it.

He criticized the Bank of Ghana’s decision to proceed with constructing a modern headquarters amidst financial challenges, asserting that such a venture was a misplaced and reckless priority.

What Ahiagbah said

Mr Ahiagbah had alleged that Dr Forson was a member of the Bank of Ghana board that initiated discussions for the new headquarters’ construction.

Mr Ahiagbah stated that while the conversations began in the 1990s, the actual implementation procedures started later.

He claimed that Dr Forson, who served on the Bank’s board as a Deputy Finance Minister under the Mahama-led administration, participated in negotiations to purchase land near Achimota forest.

Mr Ahiagbah maintained that although the BoG Board ultimately withdrew from the negotiations, a settlement fee of $1.2 million was incurred.

He emphasized: “He [Ato Forson] was a member of the Bank of Ghana board at the point where they were in government and this conversation about building a new headquarters didn’t start today but in the 1990s.”

In response, Dr Forson dismissed Mr Ahiagbah’s assertion and said it was untrue.

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