Committee reviews cost of Ghana Gas office complex
An independent valuation committee is currently reviewing the proposals and cost of the construction of a new office complex for the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) to determine value for money.
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According to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Dr George Sipa Adjah Yankey, an agreement is yet to be entered into with Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation for the construction of a 6,300 metres square office complex.
Reacting to media reports in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, Dr Yankey said Ghana Gas had not signed any agreement yet in respect of the construction of an office complex.
“Until the independent valuers submit their value for money report, which would be approved by the board, it will still remain a proposal,” Dr Yankey added.
Background
There has been reports of an alleged inflated cost of the office complex from an estimated GH¢24 million to GH¢145 million.
The flagship of multimedia group, Joy FM, which broke the story, quoted a commercial proposal dated August 15, 2014, submitted by Sinopec to Ghana Gas in which the cost of the building was increased from $7,510,000 to $38,987,668.
It reported of a change order submitted to Ghana Gas by the Project Director of Sinopec, Gao Yong, dated August 28, 2014, allegedly confirming an agreement on the proposal submitted to Ghana Gas.
The report quoted sources close to the project as saying that that would take the final price of the office building to more than $45 million from the initial $7.5 million.
Denial
Dr Yankey said the documents relied on by Joy FM in its report were outdated, since the proposals were revised in an October 6, 2014, document which had varied the entire concept.
According to him, the initial agreement for the construction of the office complex covered a land size of 1,600 metres square which was inadequate for future operations, considering the current 250 staff strength with the possibility of it being increased to about 500, when a subsidiary of Ghana Gas, Natural Gas Liquids, fully comes on stream.
He said the initial proposal for the construction of a one storey was valued at $7.51 million, but had since been revised to a six-storey building on a 6,300 metres square at a cost of $34 million.
He said the revision to a six storey was to provide enough office accommodation for their operations.
“Besides providing accommodation for staff of Ghana Gas, it will also take advantage of business opportunities for other companies to site their operations there.”
“We can also rent office space for Aggreko and other independent power producers,” he added.
“It is our conviction that the unit price per square metre of $1,480 is highly competitive and meets the national, international and industry average for this category of facilities.”
