Familiarization tour of selected youth resource centers by leadership of nya ends.

A familiarization tour to bring members of the governing board of the Authority up to speed with current happenings and levels of work at the Youth Resource Centers of Excellence currently under construction by the NYA in the former ten regions of Ghana has ended on Friday 1st May, 2020.

The tour, which began on Wednesday 29th April, 2020, saw the team visit Ho in the Volta Region, Koforidua in the Eastern Region, Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region, Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Bono Region and Dunkwa-on-Offin in the Central Region.

At Dormaa-Ahenkro, CEO of the Authority, Mr. Sylvester Tetteh, was highly impressed and couldn’t hide his joy at the progress of work which is about 95% complete for the first phase of the project.

He commended the contractor for delivering such high degree of competence and assured all that government will continue to do all within its power to protect the public purse whilst helping build the capacity of local contractors. He said the president H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was very interested in the projects and is keen to see the projects completed on schedule.

On reasons for delays in completing the projects, Mr. Tetteh opined that numerous factors such the rough nature of some terrains i.e topographical challenges, has largely accounted for that but was quick to add that work is still ongoing and timelines for phase I of the project will definitely be met. He said phase II of the project which includes the road network to the centers, the inner and outer perimeters and accessibility for Persons with Disabilities shall all be completed on schedule, to meet the President’s pursuit to have the projects completed by the close of the year.

At Dunkwa-on-Offin, the team was however highly disappointed and not quite impressed. According to the CEO there hadn’t been any remarkable changes since he last visited in January and said the pace of work was nothing to write home about especially when all contractual obligations had been met by the Authority. He however assured all that the people of Ghana, especially the youth will not be short changed.

For her part, Hon. Francisca Oteng Mensah (MP) and chairperson of the NYA board, couldn’t hide her displeasure with happenings at the site and said comparatively happenings there was disappointing since the team expected to see about 70-80% of work done. She said the board will meet in due time to take a collective decision on the status of all the contracts awarded.

Edwin A. Amponsah

Head of Public Relations

National Youth Authority